9
January 2003
Ozone depletion: Unwelcome return
The Montreal Protocol of 1987 called for a ban on the industrial solvent methyl chloroform (MCF) because of its ozone-depleting potential. Global emissions have decreased substantially and by 1999, zero emissions were estimated for Europe and the United States. But measurements taken during the summer of 2000 reveal continuing emissions of MCF from Europe—estimated at more than 20,000 tonnes per year. The sources of this unexpected MCF are not yet known, but landfill waste disposal sites in central and southern Europe are candidates. MCF has a much lower ozone-depleting potential than CFCs, but the fact that MCF data are often used to deduce trends and distributions of the OH radical, a key species in atmospheric oxidation processes, casts doubt on current predictions of OH trends.
Continuing emissions of methyl chloroform from Europe
M. C. KROL, J. LELIEVELD, D. E. ORAM, G. A. STURROCK, S. A.
PENKETT, C. A. M. BRENNINKMEIJER, V. GROS, J. WILLIAMS & H. A. SCHEEREN
Nature 421, 131–135 (2003); doi:10.1038/nature01311
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