World Ozone Day Special: Is human civilization able to understand the importance and seriousness of the ozone layer?

Today is World Ozone Day. The ozone hole was seen filling up last year due to Corona it was nothing less than good news for the whole world. The question is, is human civilization serious about the role of ozone in the environment?

India signed and ratified the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer in 1991 and the Montreal Protocol on Ozone Substances in 1992.

India has been engaged in gradual weeding out of ozone-depleting substances since 1993. The United Nations Environment Program (UNDP) has played a very important role in this work.

Today is World Ozone Day.

If we ask any general public about ozone, he can hardly answer, but when we talk about such a layer above the earth which covers the whole earth in the form of an umbrella and which from the rays of the sun. Blocks incoming ultraviolet rays from reaching the earth and sends them back.

If we do not allow these rays to come on the earth, then everyone understands this fact, if we say this in another way, just as we apply sunscreen to protect our body from ultraviolet rays, in the same way, the earth also gets deadly ultraviolet. The ozone layer does the work of protecting the earth from the rays.

If we explain and tell science in the language of common people, then people feel their connection with science and by connecting with science, people connect with nature. In the present time, every old tradition, customs policy is being tested on the test of science.

Obviously, for this reason, it is important to know that we should also understand the science behind our traditions, traditional things, culture, cultural activities and tell others so that Indian culture and civilization can prove to be the best in the whole world.

On 16 September the whole world celebrates Ozone Day-

Our atmosphere as we know it is mainly composed of dust particles on gas. The atmosphere is divided into five layers, which are called the troposphere, the stratosphere, the mesosphere, the ionosphere, and the ionosphere, respectively.

The point to be noted here is that the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere decreases from the equator to the poles, here the lowest layer of the atmosphere is called the troposphere because in this system the biosphere is the most important for the ecosystem and all the meteorological Events such as fog, cloud, dew, frost, hail, storm etc. change occur in this circle but ozone is found very less in this circle.

The second layer above the transition zone is called the stratosphere.

The average height of the stratosphere is said to be 50 km. In the lower part of this circle, between the height of 15 to 30 km, ozone gas is found in large quantities.

Ozone gas is very important for the organisms of the biosphere ecosystem because it absorbs the ultraviolet rays from the sun and does not allow them to reach the earth, which makes the earth more keeps from getting hot

Only 0.03% of carbon dioxide is found in the atmosphere. Ozone levels in the stratosphere are naturally regulated by nitrogen dioxide.

World Ozone Day Special: Is human civilization able to understand the importance and seriousness of the ozone layer?

The thickness of the ozone layer varies with the seasons.

During the last lockdown, when economic industrial activities were closed all over the world, the ozone hole was seen filling up, which had filled a new enthusiasm among scientists, which was enough to tell that if industrial activities on the earth were not stopped completely. May go.

The thing to think about is that if they are run in a controlled manner then we can conserve nature better which is the need of the present time.

The ozone layer is measured in Dobson units. In 1985, a British team first detected the ozone hole over Antarctica with the help of the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer.

What is an ozone hole? How does this work?

Chlorofluorocarbons are mainly responsible for the ozone hole. Chlorofluorocarbon is a compound made from chlorine, fluorine and carbon. It is not a natural compound but it is a man-made compound, meaning we have created our problem.

This chemical, along with contributing to the greenhouse effect, reacts with the ozone gas of the ozone layer to decompose ozone into the form of oxygen, due to which the ozone layer is depleted and the ozone hole due to the gradual depletion of ozone.

As that cover appears to us to be removed.

The depletion of the ozone layer has a huge impact on the earth. There is a risk of skin cancer from harmful ultraviolet radiation coming from the sun.

Long-term exposure to ultraviolet rays from the sun can cause partial changes in DNA, which can lead to skin cancer. The ultraviolet rays of the sun are generally divided into three categories in scientific form.

World Ozone Day Special:

• These are called UV-A, UV-B, UV-C rays.
• UV-A and UV-B rays have harmful effects on our skin.
• UV-C is also extremely lethal but does not reach the surface of the earth.

Many types of side effects are seen on the living organisms living on earth due to UV-B rays, which are gene mutation, inhibition of plant growth, loss of leaves, skin cancer, sunburn, cataract.

The ozone layer absorbs 93 to 99% of the Sun’s high-frequency ultraviolet rays because this ultraviolet light is harmful to life on Earth. inflicts excessive damage.

Chlorofluorocarbons and other gases

Chlorofluorocarbons is a very deadly gas, it is a stable compound that can remain in the atmosphere for 80 to 100 years. Chlorofluorocarbons are mainly used in refrigerators and ACs.

What is there to think here that why we saw the ozone zone only in polar regions like Antarctica, the reason for this is that ozone is formed at a slower rate in the polar parts. For this reason, the greatest effect of ozone depletion is visible over the poles.

Chlorofluorocarbons have not been used since 1960, in the manufacture of refrigerators, air conditioners, spray cases, foams and in cleaning many other electronic components.

Researchers led by University of Toronto scientist GW Kent Moore detected the ozone halo over the Tibet Plateau in 2005.

In this, the presence of additional ozone around Tibet was detected, less amount of ozone was found in the central part above the plateau and additional pozole rings were found around its periphery, but the concentration of this extra ozone was found in the direction of ozone concentration present in highly polluted cities.

This form of ozone can cause cough, chest pain in humans as well as damage the lungs.

It is worth noting that ozone in the form of a gas is itself a toxic gas. For this reason, it is harmful to biological life on the earth’s surface.

From these few points, we should understand that-

• Most of the ozone is found in the lower layer of the stratosphere, about 90%.
• The ozone found in this region is commonly called the ozone layer or the ozone layer.
• Ozone is formed in the stratosphere by continuous ultraviolet rays, short wave resistance.
• The ozone found in the troposphere is only 10%.
• It is called bad ozone because it pollutes the air, and helps in the formation of this smog.
• It is not good for the respiration of the humans living on the earth.

Thus we see that the ozone of the stratosphere is said to be good because it protects life on earth by absorbing 95% of the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun, hence it is also called the shield of the earth or the umbrella of the earth.

Chemists Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina first pointed this out in 1974-

Chlorofluorocarbons are reducing the average concentration of stratospheric ozone.

Then, in 1985, the British Antarctic Survey team led by Joseph Farman presented direct evidence of depletion of atmospheric ozone over Antarctica, whenever there was talk of the ozone layer or ozone protection.

If it arises, the Montreal Protocol and the Vienna Convention will be mentioned.

Understanding the Montreal Protocol

The reason for this is that the Montreal Protocol is an international treaty designed to phase out the production and use of ozone-depleting substances and protect the ozone layer.

Therefore, the Montreal Protocol is related to the protection of the Earth’s ozone layer, the original Montreal Protocol was adopted on 16 September 1987, which came into effect from year 1989.

The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) played a major role in this agreement.

The Montreal Protocol is a binding agreement based on emissions, while the Vienna Convention is a protocol that aims to remove substances that deplete the ozone layer, mainly chlorofluorocarbons, etc.

The Vienna Convention is often referred to as the Framework Convention because it served as a framework for efforts to protect the global ozone layer.

In 2009, the Vienna Convention became the first convention to achieve universal verification universal rectification. Although there was no binding rule under the Vienna Convention to reduce the use of chlorofluorocarbons, a binding rule to this rule was placed in the Montreal Protocol.

The Vienna Convention is a multilateral environmental agreement. The Montreal Protocol came into effect from January 1, 1989, and in 1994, the United Nations General Assembly declared September 16 as the International Day for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, as the protocol was signed on September 16 in 1987. International Ozone Day is celebrated on

India and ozone layer protection

India signed and ratified the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer in 1991 and the Montreal Protocol on Ozone Substances in 1992.

India has been engaged in gradual weeding out of ozone-depleting substances since 1993. The United Nations Environment Program (UNDP) has played a very important role in this work.

India produces CFC-11,12,13 Halon-1211, Halon-1301 HCFC-22 Carbonated Chloride (CCI) Methyl Chloroform Methyl Bromide. These are ozone-depleting substances, but they are used by humans for various purposes.

India is gradually phasing out the production and consumption of CFCs Cl4 and Halon with effect from January 1, 2010.

UNDP is helping the Indian government to gradually phase out hydrochlorofluorocarbons by 2030, which reflects India’s commitment to the Montreal Protocol.

From the year 1993 itself, India had brought out a comprehensive India Country Program to gradually eliminate the disruptive substances from the country following the National Industrial Development Strategy.

Due to this, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has set up an ozone cell, the government has given complete exemption from customs and central duty on the export of goods for the technology of non-ozone-depleting substances.

Thus we see that the ozone layer is very important not only for our country but also for the whole world, whose depletion can become a big crisis for mankind. We have to promote that type of technology and research that can protect the ozone layer and all countries should conduct industrial activities according to the Montreal Protocol.

“On Mankind
there will be a crisis
even deeper
weak when
ozone guard”