--- title: The World Meterological Organization Warns of Thin Ozone Over the Arctic description: Remember the hole in the ozone? (TIME magazine does.) Thanks largely to the unchecked use of chemicals like chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halons in the postwar... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7220471/oh-no-for-the-ozone-but-things-are-still-getting-better/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2011-04-06T00:53:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-18T15:16:37.538Z article:section: Science og:title: The World Meterological Organization Warns of Thin Ozone Over the Arctic og:description: Remember the hole in the ozone? (TIME magazine does.) Thanks largely to the unchecked use of chemicals like chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halons in the postwar... og:url: https://time.com/archive/7220471/oh-no-for-the-ozone-but-things-are-still-getting-better/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The World Meterological Organization Warns of Thin Ozone Over the Arctic twitter:description: Remember the hole in the ozone? (TIME magazine does.) Thanks largely to the unchecked use of chemicals like chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halons in the postwar... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Science](/section/science/) # Oh No for the Ozone—But Things Are Still Getting Better > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Future Proof: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Future Proof is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Making sense of the climate and energy economy. Future Proof examines the forces transforming energy and climate, and what those changes mean for business, technology, policy and the global economy. 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Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Apr 6, 2011 12:53 AM UTC by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Apr 6, 2011 12:53 AM UTC Remember the hole in the ozone? (TIME magazine [does](http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,974884,00.html).) Thanks largely to the unchecked use of chemicals like chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halons in the postwar era, the ozone layer thinned dramatically—especially over the Arctic and Antarctic poles. That was bad news for life on Earth because the ozone layer blocks harmful blocks UV-B radiation. Thin the ozone layer, and you increase the amount of UV rays that reach the Earth’s surface—and our skin. (Indeed, since 1990 the risk of getting melanoma has [more than doubled](http://www.epa.gov/oar/oaqps/gooduphigh/good.html#1) in part due to the loss of stratospheric ozone.) But thanks to the [Montreal Protocol](http://www.epa.gov/ozone/intpol/)—the 1987 international treaty that phased out ozone-depleting chemicals—the ozone layer has been on the mend for the past two decades. But healing takes time, and the ozone layer is far from fixed. Today the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) [warned that](http://www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/press%5Freleases/pr%5F912%5Fen.html) ozone over the Arctic had suffered record loss over this spring—in large part because of unusually cold temperatures in the Arctic stratosphere this winter, along with the continued impact of ozone-depleting chemicals. From the WMO: --- > “” --- It looks like this: That doesn’t meant the Montreal Protocol was a failure, though. Just like carbon dioxide, ozone-depleting chemicals have a long life in the atmosphere, so the CFCs released by your old refrigerator in the early 1980s, before the Protocol went into effect, might still be up there, eating away at the ozone. “The arctic stratosphere continues to be vulnerable to ozone destruction caused by ozone-depleting substances linked to human activities,” organization Secretary-General Michel Jarraud [told reporters](http://www.upi.com/Science%5FNews/2011/04/05/UN-Arctic-sees-record-ozone-loss/UPI-30961302044624/). The Arctic isn’t heavily populated, so ozone-depletion in the far North won’t pose a major threat to human health—but winds can move the hole around. In fact, the WMO warned late last month that some ozone-depleting areas might have reached Greenland and northern Scandinavia. Still, the ozone hole is slowly healing itself, and the phasing out of CFCs and the like remains one of the most important success stories in environmental—and international legal—history. The WMO estimates that ozone layer outside the polar areas will recover to their pre-1980s levels by 2030-40, the Antarctic by 2045-2060, and the Arctic a couple of decades later. So the world may warm and the seas may rise—but at least we’ll have managed to restore that thin blue chemical layer that makes life on this planet possible. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7220471/oh-no-for-the-ozone-but-things-are-still-getting-better/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7220471/oh-no-for-the-ozone-but-things-are-still-getting-better/"},"headline":"Oh No for the Ozone—But Things Are Still Getting Better","datePublished":"2011-04-06T00:53:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-18T15:16:37.538Z","description":"Remember the hole in the ozone? (TIME magazine does.) 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