Ozone hole dangers

Ozone hole dangers

The ozone hole results in many harmful effects on various forms of life on the Earth's surface, including:

Harm to human health :

The ozone hole increases the ultraviolet rays that humans are exposed to, which causes non-melanoma skin cancer, and increases the development of malignant melanomas and melanoma, according to epidemiology and laboratory studies. It also causes cataracts and weakens the immune system.

Damage to plants :

When exposed to ultraviolet rays, plants undergo changes that include shape, food distribution, secondary metabolism, growth and development times, in addition to changes in the competitive balance between different species, infecting plants with diseases, resulting in damage to the animals that feed on them, and altering the biogeochemical cycles. The biogeochemical cycle that occurs in nature.

Damage to marine ecosystems: The ozone hole increases the exposure of phytoplankton - which are the basis of aquatic food webs - to ultraviolet rays, which affects their distribution and ability to move, and thus leads to a decrease in their productivity, and reduces their chances of survival. Small organisms such as fish, shrimp, crabs, and amphibians cause ultraviolet rays to cause serious damage such as reduced reproductive capacity and weak larvae, and the effect of these damages extends to the organisms that feed on them and their numbers decrease.

Disruption of the biogeochemical cycles: The increase in ultraviolet radiation leads to a change in biological, geological and chemical factors that affect the cycle of materials on land and in water, which leads to a change in the sources and sinks of greenhouse gases and important trace gases such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, carbonyl sulfide, and ozone, which in turn, leads to an increase or decrease in the concentration of these gases in the atmosphere.

Polymer damage: Ultraviolet rays affect some materials of commercial importance such as industrial polymers and natural biopolymers, so they become more perishable, and their shelf life decreases when used outdoors outside the home, so special additives are added to these materials that somewhat protect them from the harmful effect of ultraviolet rays.

Climate change: Studies indicate that the presence of the ozone hole in the Antarctic region led to climate change, and affected the circulation of the atmosphere in the region extending from the southern hemisphere to the equator, which led to an increase in precipitation in subtropical regions, according to a study published in the Journal of Science.

immune system: The collapse of the human immune system as a result of the increased percentage of ultraviolet radiation, which exceeds the ability of living cells to tolerate sunlight.