Climate change: Wildfire smoke destroys ozone layer, new study finds

Smoke from wildfires, which have become a common phenomenon across the world, can destroy the Earth’s ozone layer, a new study has found. The ozone shield in the Earth’s stratosphere absorbs the sun’s ultraviolet rays.

Researchers from the University of Waterloo warned that if climate change caused major fires to become more frequent, more damaging ultraviolet radiation will hit the ground. They studied how smoke from the 2019 and 2020 Australian wildfires destroyed atmospheric ozone in the Southern Hemisphere for several months.

Last year’s summer wildfires in Yakutia in Russia’s Siberian region produced record carbon emissions, according to data from the European Union’s Copernicus satellite monitoring unit. Environmentalists fear that such fires, triggered by hot weather, might thaw Siberian permafrost and peatlands, releasing carbon long stored in the frozen tundra.

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In the study, published in the Science journal, the researchers used the Canadian Space Agency’s Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment satellite data to measure the impact of smoke particles in the stratosphere.

“The Australian fires injected acidic smoke particles into the stratosphere, disrupting the chlorine, hydrogen and nitrogen chemistry that regulate ozone,” the varsity quoted lead author Peter Bernath as saying.

Bernath, a research professor at the University of Waterloo’s Department of Chemistry, added: “This is the first large measurement of the smoke, which shows it converting these ozone-regulating compounds into more reactive compounds that destroy ozone.”

However, similar to the holes over the Polar Regions, the damage was temporary and the ozone levels returned to pre-wildfire levels as the smoke dissipated from the stratosphere. But increased prevalence of wildfires could mean the destruction happens more frequently.

“The ACE (Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment) satellite is a unique mission with over 18 continuous years of data on atmospheric composition. ACE measures a large collection of molecules to give a better, more complete picture of what is happening in our atmosphere,” Bernath said.

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“Models can’t reproduce atmospheric smoke chemistry yet, so our measurements provide a unique look at chemistry not seen before.”