On the list of damages that threaten our environment there have been added four new man-made gases that were discovered in the ice of Greenland and in the Australia and Tasmania air. Scientists believe that these gases can be a real threat to the Earth’s protective ozone layer and are trying to find the sources of the new ozone layer threats. They believe it might come from the use of pesticides or refrigerants.

Studies show that more than 74 000 tonnes of the new ozone layer threats have been released in the atmosphere. The new study also reveals that these four man-made gases were not present before the 1960’s in the ice shores of Greenland.

New Ozone Layer Threats – the origins

The gases seem have to come from the northern hemisphere and then were blown south. Scientists have research planes that take air samples to establish if there are other sources of the new ozone Layer threats. It seems that the new gases are not a major concern at the moment and Martin Chipperfield from the University of Leeds says that: “While these newly discovered gases can, in theory, cause some damage to the ozone layer, their combined abundance is over 500 times smaller than that of the main ozone-destroying compounds in the 1990s. These new observations do not present concern at the moment, although the fact that these gases are in the atmosphere and some are increasing needs investigation.”

One of the new ozone layer threats is the gas called HCFC or hydrochlorofluorocarbon while the other type of gases discovered are called CFC or chlorofluorocarbons. The CFC gases are found in refrigerator coolants and aerosol sprays.

The ozone layer protects the earth’s stratosphere by filtering ultraviolet rays coming from the sun. these rays are very dangerous to human health causing skin cancer and cataracts of the human eye.