OZONE LAYER DEPLETION Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

OZONE LAYER DEPLETION - Essay Example The layer absorbs the hazardous Ultra Violet radiations emitted by the sun which would, otherwise, destroy the life of both animals and plants. The others include mesosphere, thermosphere and exosphere as shown in the diagram below. Ozone is a gas that occurs naturally and which concentrates into a layer in the stratosphere to form the protective stratospheric ozone layer. Siva and Reddy (2011) describe the ozone layer as the sunscreen of the earth. The layer is made up of ozone, which has molecules with three oxygen atoms (O3). The layer is located between 19km -50 km above the surface of the earth, and absorbs almost 99% of the high frequency rays of the sun. The ozone layer’s thickness varies with geographical locations and seasons. Of notable concern is the fact that there have been signs of depletion of this sensitive protective shield called the ozone layer particularly the hole discovered in Antartic Peninsula towards the end of the 19th century. The depletion of the ozone layer causes problems wheredirect UV rays from the sun poses a health risk to human beings. Over the years, this has been an issue of serious concern among different nations. As such, various measures have been proposed that are meant to address the problem. This includes legislation being passed by different countries in order to help control the situation. This paper specifically looks at how the Montreal Protocol has been designed to address the problem. The paper will also discuss various measures that have also been taken by other countries to deal with the same problem. The paper starts by explaining the problems caused by ozone layer depletion and goes on to explain in detail the extent to which this problem can be solved. The problem of ozone layer depletion was first noticed around 1978 and it has been significantly gaining attention by different countries. For instance, the ozone hole that became noticeable towards the end of the 19th century denotes a region in