Scientists have detected four new man-made gases that damage the Earth's protective ozone layer, despite bans on almost all production of similar gases under a 1987 treaty, a study showed on Sunday.
The experts were trying to pinpoint industrial sources of tiny traces of the new gases, perhaps used in making pesticides or refrigerants, that were found in Greenland's ice and in air samples in Tasmania, Australia.
The ozone layer shields the planet from damaging ultra-violet rays, which can cause skin cancer and eye cataracts, and has been recovering after a phase-out of damaging chemicals under the U.N.'s 1987 Montreal Protocol.
"The concentrations are not yet a threat to the ozone layer," lead author Johannes Laube of the University of East Anglia in England told Reuters of the three types of CFCs (chlorofluorocarbon) and one HCFC (hydrochlorofluorocarbon).
In total, the scientists estimated more than 74,000 tonnes of the four had been released to the atmosphere. None was present before the 1960s in Greenland's ice cores, according to the study in the journal Nature Geoscience.
Forecasters say the first snow storm of the season to take aim at major Northeast cities...
A 7.0 magnitude earthquake has rocked Alaska on Saturday, Dec. 6, according to the United States...
Tens of thousands of residents in western Washington could face evacuation orders when another round of...
President Trump on Wednesday weakened vehicle mileage rules for the auto industry, loosening pollution restrictions.The proposal...
