Researchers have developed a new method for assessing the impacts of ozone-destroying substances that threaten the recovery of the ozone layer.

The Montreal Protocol is successfully protecting the ozone layer, but there is increasing evidence to suggest the ozone hole is recovering slower than expected. The Integrated Ozone Depletion (IOD) metric provides a straightforward way to measure the effects of unregulated emissions of substances that deplete the ozone layer and evaluate how effective ozone layer protection measures are.

The metric has been developed by researchers at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science at the University of Cambridge and the National Centre for Earth Observation at the University of Leeds, and whilst the Montreal Protocol has been largely successful, illegal breaches are jeopardising its efficacy. The IOD indicates the impact of any new emissions on the ozone layer by considering three things: the strength of the emission, how long it will remain in the atmosphere, and how much ozone is chemically destroyed by it.

Professor John Pyle said: “The Montreal Protocol is successfully protecting the ozone layer, but there is increasing evidence to suggest the ozone hole is recovering slower than expected. The IOD will be very useful for monitoring ozone recovery, and especially relevant to regulators who need to phase out substances with the potential to chemically destroy ozone.”

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