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Determining the role that GHG driven climate change might play for Arctic ozone loss is a great challenge and the subject of on-going research throughout the international atmospheric sciences community.||

Dear Journalists,

This is what you have been waiting for! There is now a small corner of cyberspace where you can find out more about ozone layer protection and its linkages with climate change.
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Topics of Interest

	Funding to phase-out HCFCs in 39 countries to safeguard the ozone layer and mitigate climate change 15 April 2011 - During its 63rd Meeting in Montreal 4-8 April 2011, the Executive Committee of the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol agreed to commit over US $40 million to phase-out nearly 400 ODP tonnes of HCFCs in 39 developing countries*. HCFCs, which not only destroy the stratospheric ozone layer but are also greenhouse gases, are being used in these countries mainly as refrigerants in air conditioners and industrial and commercial refrigeration, as a blowing agent for the manufacture of foam, and to a lesser extent as solvents. Read more...
	Record Depletion of Arctic Ozone Layer Causing Increased UV Radiation in Scandinavia 5 April 2011 - Over the past few days ozone-depleted air masses extended from the north pole to southern Scandinavia leading to higher than normal levels of ultraviolet (UV) radiation during sunny days in southern Finland. These air masses will move east over the next few days, covering parts of Russia and perhaps extend as far south as the Chinese/Russian border. Such excursions of ozone-depleted air may also occur over Central Europe and could reach as far south as the Mediterranean. Read more... Related: Ozone-layer 'hole' expected above Greece in April
	News at North Pole Ozone Layer 16 March 2011- Unusually low temperatures in the Arctic ozone layer have recently initiated massive ozone depletion. The Arctic appears to be heading for a record loss of this trace gas that protects the Earth's surface against ultraviolet radiation from the sun. This result has been found by measurements carried out by an international network of over 30 ozone sounding stations spread all over the Arctic and Subarctic and coordinated by the Potsdam Research Unit of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association in Germany. In the Arctic the amount lost is more variable year-to-year than in the Antarctic. The greatest declines, up to 30%, are in the winter and spring, when the stratosphere is colder. Read more...
	EPA Approves New Coolant for Car Air Conditioning Systems / Better climate protection without harming the ozone layer 1 March 2011 - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) has issued final approval for a new refrigerant for use in motor vehicle air conditioning systems that does not deplete the ozone layer, which helps protect the environment and people’s health. The new chemical, HFO-1234yf, may now be used in air conditioning for new cars and light trucks. When used appropriately, this chemical can reduce the environmental impact of motor vehicle air conditioners and has a global warming potential that is 99.7 percent less than the current chemical ( HFC–134a ) used in most car air conditioners. Read more...
	German research contributes new insights on changes in Ozone Layer 1 March 2011 - German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) researchers have been instrumental in the preparation of a report on the changes in the Ozone Layer for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The report was published online by the Geneva-based WMO in January. Recent estimates suggest that, by the middle of the 21st century, the thickness of Ozone Layer will be the same as in the early 1980s. Read more...
	Benefits to cutting 'black carbon' 22 February 2011 - Cutting atmospheric soot, methane and ground-level ozone is the quickest way to tackle climate change in the short term, according to a new report. The governing council of the UN Environment Programme (Unep) in Nairobi will hear that reducing these short-lived emissions could reduce warming by half a degree. Read more...
	India-US task force for reducing gases causing global warming 18 February 2011 -The great international problems of our time beggar the imagination: global warming, pandemics, war crimes, nuclear proliferation, just to name a few. Their complexity confounds the most agile of technocrats, and the stakes involved are high, affecting billions of people living under every sort of government. Read more... Related: 'Super' Greenhouse Gases Targeted by India and US Task Force

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