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Our Environment and Antarctica
If ever there was a successful international agreement concerning the environment of our planet, it had to be the Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the Ozone Layer. The Montreal Protocol was signed in 1989, at a time when the layers of ozone in the stratosphere was depleting in a rapid pace and the ozone holes over Antarctica was becoming larger and prominent. This all important environment treaty, signed by various countries, ensured that the production of the harmful Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) stopped for good.
By increasing the amount of unsafe ultraviolet radiation hitting the earth’s surface, the exhaustion of the ozone layer would have had a direct impact on animal and human health. Though the recovery of the ozone layer over Antarctica is good news, scientists are worried over the changing wind patterns in the southern hemisphere as a result of this. A dramatic shift in the wind patterns will definitely have its impact on the global climate.
The most talked about issue is regarding a type of wind known as the ‘westerlies’. The westerlies blow in both the southern and the northern hemispheres, but in opposite directions. In the southern hemisphere these winds blow from the north-west, and are responsible for producing the Antarctic Circumpolar Current around Antarctica. This ocean current plays a crucial role in preserving the climate of Antarctica. The current helps to keep the warm waters away from the icy continent. This is the main reason why Antarctica is a lot colder than the Arctic.
But over the past few years, the southern westerlies have intensified towards the pole by almost twenty percent. Scientists have sited various causes for this intensification, out of which the changes in the ozone layer is the main reason. However, there are still plenty of areas in this intensification that are left to be understood and explored.
