Ozone Layer Depletion

Sources

All 28 sources behind this slate. Every bracketed number on every page points to one of these. Last checked 2026-08-08. If you add a claim to any page, add its source here and cite it.

The Science

The papers that found the problem, measured it, and named what is still uncontrolled.

[1] Molina and Rowland, Nature 249:810-812 (1974). How chlorine destroys ozone

nature.com

[2] Farman, Gardiner and Shanklin (1985), British Antarctic Survey. The hole

bas.ac.uk

[14] Ravishankara et al., Science 326:123-125 (2009). Nitrous oxide

science.org

[15] Hossaini et al., Nature Communications 8:15962 (2017). Dichloromethane

nature.com

[16] Communications Earth and Environment (2025). Short-lived chlorine gases

nature.com

[20] Newman et al. (2009), NASA. The world with no treaty

earthobservatory.nasa.gov

The Treaties

Framework, binding cuts, the fund, and the HFC patch.

[3] Vienna Convention (1985), US EPA. A framework with no cuts

epa.gov

[4] Montreal Protocol timeline, Ozone Secretariat

ozone.unep.org

[5] London Amendment and the Multilateral Fund (1990)

multilateralfund.org

[9] Kigali Amendment (2016), Ozone Secretariat. HFC cuts

ozone.unep.org

[9a] US EPA. Recent developments under the Montreal Protocol

epa.gov

[4a] Earth Magazine. The signing on 16 September 1987

earthmagazine.org

The Resistance and the Failures

Who pushed back, what leaked, and what is being smuggled.

[6] DuPont and the Freon ban, Journal of Business Ethics (2002)

link.springer.com

[7] The 1978 spray can bans, Rapid Transition Alliance

rapidtransition.org

[17] Andersen et al., PNAS 118 (2021). Feedstock exemptions

pnas.org

[18] Environmental Investigation Agency. Illegal refrigerant trade

eia-international.org

The CFC-11 Episode

Detection, attribution, and reversal, across four papers in three years.

[10] The CFC-11 story, Ozone Secretariat. See Montzka et al., Nature 557:413-417 (2018)

ozone.unep.org

[11] Rigby et al., Nature 569 (2019). Traced to eastern China

nature.com

[12] Park et al., Nature 590:433-437 (2021). Eastern China emissions fall

nature.com

[13] Montzka et al., Nature (2021). Global CFC-11 emissions fall

nature.com

How We Know

The instruments and networks. These back the how we know page.

[25] British Antarctic Survey. The Dobson spectrophotometer at Halley, record from 1956

bas.ac.uk

[24] Stolarski et al., Nature 322:808 (1986). Nimbus-7 confirms the hole from space

nature.com

[28] eoPortal. TOMS mission, including the software that filtered the low readings

eoportal.org

[27] NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory. LOGOS, formerly the HATS network

gml.noaa.gov

[26] Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 21:9829 (2021). Gaps in the Halley record

acp.copernicus.org

[27a] AGAGE. History of the Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment

repository.library.noaa.gov

Monitoring, Assessment and What Comes Next

The four-yearly reports, the size record, and the newest question.

[8] WMO and UNEP, Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion 2022

ozone.unep.org

[23] WMO and UNEP, Scientific Assessment 2026. Not yet published

csl.noaa.gov

[21] NASA. Ozone hole size through the years

science.nasa.gov

[19] Barker et al., Scientific Data (2024). Rocket launch and re-entry emissions

nature.com

[22] Barker et al., Earth's Future (2026). Satellite megaconstellations

agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

[9b] Ozone Secretariat. Current ratification status of all amendments

ozone.unep.org

Entries marked with a letter, such as [4a], are extra references that back up the same claim as the numbered entry. They are not cited separately in the text. Numbers on their own, [1] to [23], are the ones the pages point to.