"Smoke From Australian Bushfires Depleted Ozone Layer By Up To 5% In 2020"

"Lead researcher says destruction was similar to process of Antarctic ozone hole forming each spring ‘but at much warmer temperatures’"

"Particles in bushfire smoke can activate molecules that destroy the ozone layer, according to new research that suggests future ozone recovery may be delayed by increasingly intense and frequent fires.

A study published in the journal Nature has found that smoke from the 2019-20 Australian bushfires temporarily depleted the ozone layer by 3% to 5% in 2020.

Smoke from the fires, which circulated around the globe, was ejected into the stratosphere, the second layer in Earth’s atmosphere, by a pyrocumulonimbus cloud."

Donna Lu reports for the Guardian March 8, 2023.