What Would have Happened to the Ozone Layer if Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) had not been Regulated?

  • Released Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Led by NASA Goddard scientist Paul Newman, a team of atmospheric chemists simulated 'what might have been' if chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and similar ozone-depleting chemicals were not banned through the Montreal Protocol. The comprehensive model — including atmospheric chemical effects, wind changes, and solar radiation changes — simulated what would happen to global concentrations of stratospheric ozone if CFCs were continually added to the atmosphere.

The visualizations below present two cases, from several different viewing positions: the 'world avoided' case, where the rate of CFC emission into the atmosphere is assumed to be that of the period before regulation, and the 'projected' case, which assumes the current rate of emission, post-regulation. Both cases extrapolate to the year 2065.



Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

Release date

This page was originally published on Tuesday, March 17, 2009.
This page was last updated on Monday, July 15, 2024 at 12:00 AM EDT.


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Tapes

The media on this page originally appeared on the following tapes:
  • Ozone World Avoided (ID: 2009018)
    Thursday, March 19, 2009 at 4:00AM
    Produced by - James Collier (NASA)