麻豆约拍

Adam Walton meets Jonathan Shanklin, the Welsh born scientist who was part of the team working in the Antarctic, that 30 years ago announced the discovery of the hole in the ozone layer.

Up in the stratosphere, miles above the surface, the ozone layer provides vital protection against the harmful effects of UV radiation from the sun. Any thinning of the layer increases risk of sunburn, skin cancer and cataracts. It also affects animal and plant life.

The announcement by Joe Farman, Brian Gardiner and Jonathan Shanklin of the British Antarctic Survey, that the vitally important ozone layer was thinning, published in Nature in May 1985, took the world by surprise, and spurred both science and industry to respond.
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The discovery led to the global ban of CFCs in aerosols and refrigeration, and a realisation of the fragile nature of the atmosphere. Alternatives for CFCs were adopted in the following years, and now the ozone layer is recovering, but it's expected to take at least another fifty years before it recovers to levels recorded before the CFC era.
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