World Ozone Day 2024 [September 16]: Theme, Facts, Celebration

Every year 16 September is marked globally as International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer or World Ozone Day. This special day aims to draw attention of everyone on this planet towards the usefulness of ozone layer, how it protects us from UV rays and how we need to protect it from damaging chemicals.

September 16 was chosen in commemoration of the day when Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was signed in 1987.

The theme of World Ozone Day 2023 is “Ozone for Life: 35 Years of Global Cooperation.” .

World Ozone Day Date

Check here date of International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer in the year 2024, 2025, 2026, and 2027:

World Ozone Day Overview

Interesting facts about Ozone

Here are some lesser-known interesting facts about Ozone:

1. Christian Friedrich Schonbein, a German-Swiss chemist, discovered ozone in 1839.
2. He named it ozone from the Greek verb ozein, which means to smell.
3. The ozone layer is able to absorb as much as 98% of the sun’s harmful UV rays.
4. In 1985, a hole was discovered in the ozone layer in the Antarctic.
5. Chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons were the reason behind the damage of the ozone layer.
6. According to latest research, the Antarctica ozone hole is showing signs of shrinking.
7. The Montreal Protocol to ban ozone-depleting chemicals such as CFCs was signed in 1989.
8. The ozone formula, O3, was determined by Jacques-Louis Soret in 1865 and confirmed by Schonbein in 1867.
9. The standardized way to express total ozone levels in the atmosphere is through Dobson units.
10. Ozone has shown damaging effect to the respiratory, cardiovascular and central nervous system.

Damage to the Ozone & Montreal Protocol

Damage to the Ozone

A large number of chemicals called as halons, halocarbons, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydro chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) introduced in the atmosphere are the major cause of ozone depletion. Other than this, methyl bromide, methyl chloroform and carbon tetrachloride are also chlorine and bromine producing compounds that harm that ozone layer.

Montreal Protocol

To save the valuable ozone layer, the Montreal Protocol was introduced with the aim to control the production and consumption of substances that harm the ozone and the ultimate goal to completely eliminate their production. The protocol is designed around different groups of ozone-depleting substances.

Check: September special days and dates

Significance

To highlight the importance of the ozone layer, the damage that is being caused to it and to find the ways to protect this layer, the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer 2023 will be observed on September 16.

The day is to remind every individual to do their part in protection of ozone layer.

History

A resolution was adopted in the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer on 22 March 1985. The need was felt after the hole in the ozone layer was discovered over Antarctica. Following the adoption of resolution, The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was drafted on 16 September 1987.

Later in 1994, the United Nations General Assembly announced the celebration of International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer to commemorate the signing of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer on 16 September.

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