The recovery of the “Ozone Hole” in the stratosphere high above the Earth’s surface has been one of the great success stories of the past twenty years. When it was discovered that some refrigerants like chlorofluorocarbons were rising up in the atmosphere to the level of our protective ozone layer (not the ozone near the surface that contributes to smog), and that these chemicals were helping to destroy the ozone that protects us from harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun, the world together worked to phase out these chemicals. Since then the Ozone Hole has stopped growing and has begun to recover.
But a recent study shows that new chemicals called “very short-lived substances” or VSLS are becoming more widespread and are contributing to new challenges to the ozone layer which could cause problems with skin cancer, cataracts, and genetic mutations. Some VSLS are naturally occurring, but many are used in industrial manufacturing and those are increasing more than the natural sources.
You can read a story about this research, which was published in Nature Geosciences, at Physics Today https://phys.org/news/2015-02-ozone-destroying-gases.html.
