Chlorofluorocarbons, Stratospheric Ozone, and the Antarctic ‘Ozone Hole’

• Published in: Environmental Conservation
• Main Author: Rowland, F. Sherwood
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1988
• Subjects: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis; Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law; Nature and Landscape Conservation; Pollution; Water Science and Technology; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0376892900028897; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0376892900028897

The momentous subject of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and their effect on The Biosphere's stratospheric ozone shield is treated rather generally but in sufficient depth where necessary in three main sections dealing with (i) scientific background and current status of ongoing investigation, (ii) the major technological uses of CFCs and available or foreseeable alternatives to them, and (iii) the policy status and regulatory activity involving present or proposed future restrictions in CFC emissions. It being unlikely that life, at least as we know it, would have developed on Earth without an ozone layer in the stratosphere to ‘filter off’ harmful ultraviolet rays from solar radiation, the prospect of continuing manufacture in developing countries of its destroyers is highly alarming, especially as these destructive CFCs may take more than a decade from emission to reach the levels around 40 km altitude at which they do the most harm.