New study says Australian wildfires damaged the ozone layer
Fox News
According to a new study, the Australian summer wildfires from 2019 until 2020 caused significant damage to the Earth's entire ozone layer.
The intensity and scale of the fires were unmatched with over 5.8 million hectares throughout the country, "resulting in millions of tonnes of smoke and associated gases being injected into the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere," the researchers wrote.
Over time the smoke particles built up long enough to cause the stratosphere to warm higher than the volcanic eruption of mount Pinatubo in 1991. Moreover, the stratospheric cooling prolonged the longevity of the ozone hole above Antarctica as it grew to a larger than average size in 2021.
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