Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2006

2006 Assessment cover
Inside Front Cover PDF file
The most recent WMO/UNEP assessment, Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2006, contains the most up-to-date understanding of ozone depletion and reflects the thinking of 310 international scientific experts who contributed to its preparation and review. Co-chairs of this Assessment were Dr. Daniel L. Albritton of the NOAA ESRL Chemical Sciences Division, Dr. Ayité-Lô Nohende Ajavon of the Université de Lomé, and Dr. Robert T. Watson of the World Bank. Other members of the ESRL Chemical Sciences Division made substantial contributions to the report, serving as lead authors, co-authors, contributors, reviewers, coordinating editor, and editorial and computing support staff.

The Assessment consists of the Executive Summary, eight detailed chapters, and "Twenty Questions and Answers About the Ozone Layer: 2006 Update", listed here with the names of the Lead Authors:

Chapter 1. Long-Lived Compounds Cathy Clerbaux (France) and Derek Cunnold (USA)
Chapter 2. Halogenated Very Short-Lived Substances Kathy Law (France) and Bill Sturges (UK)
Chapter 3. Global Ozone: Past and Present Martyn Chipperfield (UK) and Vitali Fioletov (Canada)
Chapter 4. Polar Ozone: Past and Present Paul Newman (USA) and Markus Rex (Germany)
Chapter 5. Climate-Ozone Connections Mark Baldwin (USA) and Martin Dameris (Germany)
Chapter 6. The Ozone Layer in the 21st Century Greg Bodeker (New Zealand) and Darryn Waugh (USA)
Chapter 7. Surface Ultraviolet Radiation: Past, Present, and Future Alkiviadis Bais (Greece) and Dan Lubin (USA)
Chapter 8. Halocarbon Scenarios, Ozone Depletion Potentials, and Global Warming Potentials John Daniel (USA) and Guus Velders (Netherlands)
Twenty Questions and Answers About the Ozone Layer: 2006 Update David W. Fahey (USA)

A formatted copy of the full report, Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2006 is available here. Alternatively, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) each serve a full formatted copy of the report. The figures associated with each chapter may be downloaded from the collection of chapter figures. The Executive Summary and "Twenty Questions and Answers About the Ozone Layer: 2006 Update" are also posted here, in the sections below.

List of International Authors, Contributors, and Reviewers of the 2006 Assessment

Hundreds of scientists from around the world write and review the periodic WMO/UNEP "state-of-the-science" assessments of ozone depletion; hundreds of additional scientists author the studies that are referenced within them. As a result, the WMO/UNEP assessments are truly "global" documents, reflecting the thinking of the international scientific community.

310 international scientists from the developed and developing world contributed to the preparation and review of the latest WMO/UNEP assessment, Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2006. Listed here are the names of those individuals and the supporting organizations and staff.

2006 Assessment Executive Summary cover
Cover Information
Inside Front Cover PDF file

Text of the Executive Summary

A full formatted copy of the Executive Summary PDF file
The Executive Summary gives a synopsis of major scientific findings of the eight chapters of the full 2006 Assessment. This includes:


2006 Assessment Twenty Questions and Answers About the Ozone Layer cover
Cover Information
Inside Front Cover PDF file
Inside Back Cover PDF file

"Twenty Questions and Answers About the Ozone Layer: 2006 Update"

In the 2006 Assessment, the international scientific community included the section called "Twenty Questions and Answers About the Ozone Layer: 2006 Update." In it, they answer several of the general questions that are most frequently asked by students, the general public, and leaders in industry and government. A draft of the update of this component of the 2006 Assessment was reviewed and discussed by the 77 scientists who attended the Panel Review Meeting for the 2006 report in June 2006 PDF file. In addition, subsequent contributions, reviews, or comments were provided by individuals listed on the publication's inside back cover PDF file.

A full formatted copy of the "Twenty Questions and Answers About the Ozone Layer: 2006 Update" PDF file
A comprehensive poster is available. Individual components, including each question and associated figures, are available below:

  1. INTRODUCTION

  2. OZONE IN OUR ATMOSPHERE
    1. What is ozone and where is it in the atmosphere?
    2. How is ozone formed in the atmosphere?
    3. Why do we care about atmospheric ozone?
    4. Is total ozone uniform over the globe?
    5. How is ozone measured in the atmosphere?
  3. THE OZONE DEPLETION PROCESS
    1. What are the principal steps in stratospheric ozone depletion caused by human activities?
    2. What emissions from human activities lead to ozone depletion?
    3. What are the reactive halogen gases that destroy stratospheric ozone?
    4. What are the chlorine and bromine reactions that destroy stratospheric ozone?
    5. Why has an "ozone hole" appeared over Antarctica when ozone-depleting gases are present throughout the stratosphere?
  4. STRATOSPHERIC OZONE DEPLETION
    1. How severe is the depletion of the Antarctic ozone layer?
    2. Is there depletion of the Arctic ozone layer?
    3. How large is the depletion of the global ozone layer?
    4. Do changes in the Sun and volcanic eruptions affect the ozone layer?
  5. CONTROLLING OZONE-DEPLETING GASES
    1. Are there regulations on the production of ozone-depleting gases?
    2. Has the Montreal Protocol been successful in reducing ozone-depleting gases in the atmosphere?
  6. IMPLICATIONS OF OZONE DEPLETION
    1. Does depletion of the ozone layer increase ground-level ultraviolet radiation?
    2. Is depletion of the ozone layer the principal cause of climate change?
  7. STRATOSPHERIC OZONE IN THE FUTURE
    1. How will recovery of the ozone layer be identified?
    2. When is the ozone layer expected to recover?
    2006 Assessment Twenty Questions and Answers About the Ozone Layer poster
    Twenty Q&As About the Ozone Layer Poster

    ADDITIONAL TOPICS


Citations.

The WMO/UNEP Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2006, including the Executive Summary and "Twenty Questions and Answers About the Ozone Layer", was published in print in March 2007. The web version was prepared by Catherine A. Burgdorf of the NOAA ESRL Chemical Sciences Division, Boulder, Colorado, in cooperation with Dr. A.R. Ravishankara and Dr. Christine A. Ennis of the NOAA ESRL Chemical Sciences Division. This version was derived directly from the source of the printed edition and made public in April 2007. The Assessment may be reproduced or excerpted, without modification, provided the source is duly and conspicuously acknowledged in every instance as:

the whole report:

WMO (World Meteorological Organization) Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2006, Global Ozone Research and Monitoring Project - Report No. 50, 572pp., Geneva, 2007.

the Executive Summary:

Executive Summary: Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2006, 39 pp., World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, 2006. [Reprinted from Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2006, Global Ozone Research and Monitoring Project - Report No. 50, 572pp., World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, 2007.]

"Twenty Questions and Answers About the Ozone Layer: 2006 Update":

Fahey, D.W. (Lead Author), Twenty Questions and Answers About the Ozone Layer: 2006 Update, 50 pp., World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, 2007. [Reprinted from Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2006, Global Ozone Research and Monitoring Project - Report No. 50, 572pp., World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, 2007.]

Copies.

Printed copies of the Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2006 are available at no charge by writing to:

the whole report (includes the Executive Summary and "Twenty Questions and Answers About the Ozone Layer: 2006 Update":

World Meteorological Organization
AREP Global Atmosphere Watch
Case postale 2300
Geneva 2, CH-1211, Switzerland

the Executive Summary and "Twenty Questions and Answers About the Ozone Layer: 2006 Update" booklets:

United Nations Environment Programme
Ozone Secretariat
P.O. Box 30552
Nairobi, Kenya