World Ozone Day 2014: Progress, But The Mission Has Not Yet Been Accomplished

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
The layer of gas that protects us and all life on Earth from the Sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation may be on the road to recovery, but as the world commemorates World Ozone Day on Tuesday, officials emphasize there is still much work to be done.
Starting in 1994, the UN Assembly proclaimed that September 16 would be the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer (or, alternatively, World Ozone Day). The date was chosen because it was on September 16, 1987 that the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was signed into effect.
According to the UN, the theme for this year’s World Ozone Day is “Ozone Layer Protection: The Mission Goes On,” since even though the Montreal Protocol has been somewhat successful to this point, the organization emphasized that there are “some remaining challenges” to overcome.
Earlier this month, scientists from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) revealed in a new report that the ozone layer in the stratosphere was starting to thicken, and the whole that appears annually over Antarctica has finally stopped growing larger.
The UNEP and WMO explained it would take decades before the hole begins to shrink. Without the Montreal Protocol and the “concerted international action against ozone depleting substances” it has encouraged, they said, the atmospheric levels of ozone-depleting substances might have increased tenfold by 2050.
“There are positive indications that the ozone layer is on track to recovery towards the middle of the century”, UN Undersecretary General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said, according to Lydia Smith of International Business Times. “The challenges that we face are still huge. The success of the Montreal Protocol should encourage further action not only on the protection and recovery of the ozone layer but also on climate.”
World Ozone Day also provides a unique opportunity to learn more about this substance, which according to William Hartson of The Express is a pungent smelling blue-gas comprised of three oxygen atoms. It was first discovered in 1840 by Christian Friedrich Schönbein, a German-Swizz chemist who named it after Greek word “ozein,” which means “to smell.”
Also, as NASA points out, not all ozone is good ozone. While the ozone in the stratosphere (12-20 miles above the ground) helps protect humans, animals and all life on Earth from those dangerous UV rays, ozone located closer to the planet’s surface in the troposphere can be hazardous to our health. In fact, according to the EPA, it is harmful to breathe and is also one of the primary ingredients of urban smog.

The US space agency has also published a list of educational activities that parents and teachers can use with children of all ages to commemorate the occasion. NASA is also encouraging teachers to contact the organization and discuss how they were able to use the information in their classroom, promising an educational poster to the first 25 instructors they hear from.
At its core, World Ozone Day 2014 is a time to mark what WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud called “a major environmental success story” last week following the release of the joint WMO-UNEP report. He went on to tell reporters that the findings of that study “should encourage us to display the same level of urgency and unity to tackle the even greater challenge of tackling climate change.”
Image 2 (below): Miles above the surface of the Earth, a thin layer of ozone gas acts as a shield that protects us from harmful ultraviolet light. Credit: NASA