The Atmospheric LIDar (ATLID) instrument of the ESA's Earth Cloud, Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) satellite mission launched in May 2024 provides high-resolution vertical profiling of aerosols and clouds at 355 nm. Fully operational since July 2024, ATLID has been witness to a significant perturbation of stratospheric aerosol budget following the eruptions of Ruang volcano (Indonesia) in late April 2024. Using ATLID together with limb-viewing satellite instruments (OMPS-LP and SAGE III), we quantify the stratospheric aerosol perturbation generated by the Ruang eruption and characterize the global transport of volcanic aerosols. To evaluate the ATLID performance in the stratosphere, its data are compared with collocated ground-based lidar observations at various locations in both hemispheres and overpass-coordinated balloon flights carrying AZOR backscatter sonde. The intercomparison with suborbital observations suggests excellent performance of ATLID in the stratosphere and proves its capacity to accurately resolve fine structures in the vertical distribution of stratospheric aerosols. Using various satellite observations, we show that Ruang's eruptive sequence in April 2024 produced eruptive columns reaching 25 km altitude, and resulted in a doubling of the tropical stratospheric aerosol abundance for several months. The eruption timing in austral Fall and its high-altitude reach fostered efficient poleward transport into the southern extratropics during austral Winter 2024. By the time of the austral Fall 2025, the sulphate aerosols from Ruang have spread across the entire Southern hemisphere and were most probably entrained by the 2025 Antarctic polar vortex, potentially enhancing the polar stratospheric cloud occurrence.

The severity of wildfires has remarkably increased over the last decade in both hemispheres and there is an emerging realization of their effect on climate and ozone layer via stratospheric emissions. Here we exploit a synergy of satellite and ground-based lidar observations to characterize the stratospheric impact of major wildfire outbreaks in terms of bulk aerosol composition change and generation of self-lofting smoke-charged vortices (SCV). We use long-term lidar observations at Observatoire de Haute-Provence (OHP) (Southern France) and Lauder (New Zealand) to constrain the magnitude and longevity of smoke aerosols in the stratosphere. The CALIOP satellite lidar observations of backscatter and depolarization are used to characterize the evolution of smoke plumes' optical properties and to contrast them with those of volcanic plumes.

Abstract. Stratospheric aerosol plays critical roles in the global radiative balance and stratospheric chemistry. A robust evaluation of stratospheric aerosol abundance and size distributions over time is required to determine and accurately model aerosol impacts on the Earth system. The Balloon Baseline Stratospheric Aerosol Profiles (B2SAP) project uses weather balloons to collect regular vertical profiles of stratospheric aerosol number and size distributions, at eight latitudinally diverse locations across the globe from the ground to ~30 km altitude. These systematic in situ measurements allow the micro-physical properties of the background stratospheric aerosol and their variability to be examined. These on-going measurements provide constraints for aerosol modules of large coupled models and reference for satellite retrievals relying on previous size distribution assumptions. The lightweight, low-powered Portable Optical Particle Spectrometer (POPS) instrument is deployed on balloon platforms, allowing for high vertical resolution and the detection of stratospheric aerosol down to 140 nm diameter. This paper presents the B2SAP aerosol dataset (DOI: https://doi.org/10.25921/mchy-y552, Smith et al., 2026), including a description of the B2SAP network, POPS measurement principles, sensitivity analysis, calibration procedures, file processing workflow and a comparison with aerosol extinction from the GloSSAC product.

Elevated levels of surface ultraviolet-B (UV-B) irradiance can have a negative impact on different aspects of ecosystem functioning. Our understanding of spatial and temporal variations in surface UV-B in the past is limited, mainly due to the challenges of reconstructing and modelling surface UV-B prior to the instrumental record. Here, we reconstruct surface UV-B irradiance for the Southern South Island of New Zealand, on sub-decadal resolution over the past 60 years and during the Maunder Minimum, using Pinus and Prumnopitys taxifolia sporopollenin chemistry from the Lake Ohau sediment sequence. We show a statistically significant positive relationship between UV-absorbing compounds (UACs) recorded in both taxa. These results indicate that different taxa show similar trends in UAC production in response to short-term variations in UV-B radiation. We further observe strong anticorrelation between the Pinus record and total column ozone, and strong positive correlation with annually estimated erythemally weighted and surface UV-B in the area. This demonstrates that variations in ozone thickness and cloud cover are the main regulators on sub-decadal changes in surface level UV-B flux, rather than solar output. The strong correlations were not observed with the Prumnopitys taxifolia UAC data, which can be ascribed to a lack of high-resolution data for the distal areas where the pollen grains were sourced from rather than the taxon not responding to UV-B induced stress. These results are consistent with our sub-decadal observations over the Maunder Minimum, a period of lower solar activity. We found no evidence for the 11-year solar cycle or a relationship with TSI or UV-B for the UAC data spanning the Maunder Minimum. The lack of a relationship can be explained by population-level factors influencing the relationship, with presumably cloud cover being the most dominant factor. A comparison of broad trends shows that the mean UAC values during the Maunder Minimum are lower than those from the period just before and after. Mean values from the satellite era are lower than those of the Maunder Minimum, which can be explained by Maunder Minimum Prumnopitys taxifolia trees experiencing higher annual sunshine hours due to different source locations than those of the satellite era. The biochemical responses in both Pinus and Prumnopitys taxifolia recorded here show the potential for local to regional surface UV-B reconstructions using the UAC proxy over both short-term and long-term temporal resolutions.

ESA’s EarthCARE satellite mission launched in May 2024 and carrying Atmospheric LIDar (ATLID) provides high-resolution vertical profiling of aerosols and clouds at 355 nm. Fully operational since August 2024, ATLID has been witness to a significant perturbation of stratospheric aerosol budget following the eruptions of Ruang volcano (Indonesia) in late April 2024 as well as to a major panboreal outbreak of wildfire-generated pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) events in Canada and Siberia in late May 2025 that had a hemisphere-scale impact on stratospheric aerosol loading and composition. Using ATLID L1B data together with limb-viewing satellite observations (OMPS-LP and SAGE III), we quantify the stratospheric aerosol perturbations generated by these events, characterize the long-range transport of volcanic and smoke aerosols and contrast their optical properties and dynamical evolution. To evaluate the ATLID performance in the stratosphere, its data are compared with collocated lidar observations at various locations in both hemispheres and overpass-coordinated balloon flights in France carrying in situ aerosol sensors. The intercomparison with suborbital observations suggests excellent performance of ATLID in the stratosphere and proves its capacity to accurately resolve fine structures in the vertical distribution of stratospheric aerosols.ATLID observations of the global progression of volcanic and wildfire aerosols align closely with those from OMPS-LP and SAGE III, while uniquely providing continuous coverage through polar night. We show that Ruang aerosols were subject to an unusually massive isentropic transport into the southern extratropics and were most probably entrained by the 2025 Antarctic polar vortex, potentially enhancing the polar stratospheric cloud occurrence and Antarctic ozone hole.The stratospheric aftermath of the 2025 panboreal wildfire outbreak (POW) was characterized through a synergy of ATLID and ground-based lidar observations within ACTRIS and NDACC networks. The lidar measurements consistently report record-breaking values of stratospheric aerosol backscatter and AOD during the passage of the most intense Canadian pyroCb plume. This plume displayed a pronounced warm anomaly, linked to strong solar absorption by black carbon, and underwent diabatic self-lofting from ~13 km to 20 km altitude. ATLID further indicates that smoke aerosols dispersed across the northern extratropical stratosphere and may have penetrated into the tropics.

Vertical distributions of stratospheric aerosol backscatter and depolarization ratio (nonsphericity) have been measured using ground‐based lidars at Tsukuba, Japan and Lauder, New Zealand. The observational results after 2003 show that the aerosol increased several times after large volcanic eruptions and wildfires. The largest increases in vertically integrated stratospheric aerosol backscattering coefficient (IBC) above 16.5 km (IBC 16.5 ) were observed after the Raikoke volcanic eruption in 2019 at Tsukuba and the Australian wildfire in 2019/20 at Lauder. The increased IBC 16.5 returned to normal levels in 1–2 years. After the volcanic eruptions, the particle depolarization ratio (PDR) increased for several days and then decreased in a few dozen days in most cases. In contrast, the increased PDR after the large wildfires gradually decreased in 1–2 years. These suggest that large volcanic ash was quickly removed to the troposphere or dissolved in or coated with liquid to become non‐depolarizing. In contrast, the wildfire smoke stays in the stratosphere for a few years due to its small size and mass density. We compare the lidar‐derived stratospheric aerosol extinction coefficient profiles and the optical depth (stratospheric aerosol optical depth (SAOD)) with those obtained with a balloon‐borne optical particle counter (OPC), satellite‐borne instruments (SAGE‐II, Cloud‐Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP), and Global Space‐based Stratospheric Aerosol Climatology (GloSSAC)), and the Meteorological Research Institute Earth System Model (MRI‐ESM2) for the validation. The mean differences from lidar‐derived SAOD were +15% for SAGE‐II, −11% for GloSSAC, +32% for CALIOP, and −44% for MRI‐ESM2 at Tsukuba, and +19% for the SAGE‐II, +28% for OPC, +7% for CALIOP, −15% for GloSSAC, and −72% from MRI‐ESM2 at Lauder.

A novel ultraviolet spectrometer has been developed and tested over 10 years at Lauder, New Zealand. The system, UV2, makes alternating measurements of the global and direct UV irradiance and can therefore be used to measure ozone and aerosol optical depth. After an analysis of the stability of UV2, these measurements, along with UV irradiance, are compared to relevant observations made by an additional UV spectrometer (UV4), a Dobson spectrophotometer (no. 072), and two radiometers measuring aerosol optical depth – a Prede sky radiometer and a Middleton Solar radiometer (SP02). UV2 irradiance is shown to be lower than UV4 by between 2.5 % and 3.5 %, with a standard deviation of a similar magnitude. Total column ozone values are shown to agree with Dobson spectrophotometer values with a mean bias of 2.57 Dobson units (DU) and standard deviation of 1.15 DU when using the direct sun measurements. Aerosol optical depth at 400–412 and 500 nm agrees to within 0.015 and is comparable to the difference between the reference radiometers. Further work is needed, particularly in the radiometric calibration at longer wavelengths, in order to determine if this instrument can supersede or enhance measurements made by the Dobson spectrophotometer or the aerosol radiometers.

During the 2020 austral summer, the pristine atmosphere of the southwest Indian Ocean (SWIO) basin experienced significant perturbations. This study examines the variability of aerosols and carbon monoxide (CO) over this remote oceanic region and investigates the underlying processes in the upper troposphere–lower stratosphere (UT-LS). Aerosol profiles in January and February 2020 revealed a multi-layer structure in the tropical UT-LS. Numerical models – the FLEXible PARTicle dispersion model (FLEXPART) and the Modèle Isentropique de transport Mésoéchelle de l'Ozone Stratosphérique par Advection (MIMOSA) – indicated that the lower-stratospheric aerosol content was influenced by the intense and persistent stratospheric aerosol layer generated during the 2019–2020 extreme Australian bushfire events. A portion of this layer was transported eastward by prevailing easterly winds, leading to increased aerosol extinction profiles over Réunion on 27 and 28 January. Analysis of advected potential vorticity revealed isentropic transport of air masses containing Australian biomass burning aerosols from extratropical latitudes to Réunion at the 400 K isentropic level on 28 January. Interestingly, we found that biomass burning (BB) activity in eastern Africa, though weak during this season, significantly influenced (contributed up to 90 % of) the vertical distribution of CO and aerosols in the upper troposphere over the SWIO basin. Ground-based observations at Réunion confirmed the simultaneous presence of African and Australian aerosol layers. This study provides the first evidence of African BB emissions impacting the CO and aerosol distribution in the upper troposphere over the SWIO basin during the convective season.

Volcanic and pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCB) injections into the stratosphere perturb the aerosol layer and can have important radiative and chemical impacts on timescales spanning from months to several years. Repeated in situ balloon-borne measurements of aerosol size and number concentration (>140 nm in diameter), ozone, water vapor, and atmospheric state variables made at midlatitudes in the southern hemisphere (SH) since 2019 enable us to better characterize such events. We use this record and coincident lidar extinction profiles to study several moderate to large stratospheric perturbations in the SH between 2019 and 2022 in detail, including the Australian New Year Super Outbreak (ANYSO) pyroCB in 2020. Median vertical profiles of aerosol number concentration, effective radius, and surface area in SH midlatitudes are also compared with those recorded in Northern Hemisphere midlatitudes under baseline conditions using an identical payload. These data depict the variability in stratospheric aerosol properties in the SH midlatitudes during this period and provide a benchmark for global sectional aerosol models. They reveal that sulfate particle size distributions under baseline conditions and in volcanic plumes are relatively well represented in the Community Earth System Model-Community Aerosol Radiation Model for Atmospheres (CESM-CARMA), but more observations of biomass burning plumes are needed to improve model skill in simulating pyroCB. Comparisons between in situ and lidar observations also highlight a need for more observations of aerosol composition and refractive index in both fresh and aging biomass burning plumes.

This assessment provides a comprehensive update of the effects of changes in stratospheric ozone and other factors (aerosols, surface reflectivity, solar activity, and climate) on the intensity of ultraviolet (UV) radiation at the Earth’s surface. The assessment is performed in the context of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer and its Amendments and Adjustments. Changes in UV radiation at low- and mid-latitudes (0–60°) during the last 25 years have generally been small (e.g., typically less than 4% per decade, increasing at some sites and decreasing at others) and were mostly driven by changes in cloud cover and atmospheric aerosol content, caused partly by climate change and partly by measures to control tropospheric pollution. Without the Montreal Protocol, erythemal (sunburning) UV irradiance at northern and southern latitudes of less than 50° would have increased by 10–20% between 1996 and 2020. For southern latitudes exceeding 50°, the UV Index (UVI) would have surged by between 25% (year-round at the southern tip of South America) and more than 100% (South Pole in spring). Variability of erythemal irradiance in Antarctica was very large during the last four years. In spring 2019, erythemal UV radiation was at the minimum of the historical (1991–2018) range at the South Pole, while near record-high values were observed in spring 2020, which were up to 80% above the historical mean. In the Arctic, some of the highest erythemal irradiances on record were measured in March and April 2020. For example in March 2020, the monthly average UVI over a site in the Canadian Arctic was up to 70% higher than the historical (2005–2019) average, often exceeding this mean by three standard deviations. Under the presumption that all countries will adhere to the Montreal Protocol in the future and that atmospheric aerosol concentrations remain constant, erythemal irradiance at mid-latitudes (30–60°) is projected to decrease between 2015 and 2090 by 2–5% in the north and by 4–6% in the south due to recovering ozone. Changes projected for the tropics are ≤ 3%. However, in industrial regions that are currently affected by air pollution, UV radiation will increase as measures to reduce air pollutants will gradually restore UV radiation intensities to those of a cleaner atmosphere. Since most substances controlled by the Montreal Protocol are also greenhouse gases, the phase-out of these substances may have avoided warming by 0.5–1.0 °C over mid-latitude regions of the continents, and by more than 1.0 °C in the Arctic; however, the uncertainty of these calculations is large. We also assess the effects of changes in stratospheric ozone on climate, focusing on the poleward shift of climate zones, and discuss the role of the small Antarctic ozone hole in 2019 on the devastating “Black Summer” fires in Australia. Additional topics include the assessment of advances in measuring and modeling of UV radiation; methods for determining personal UV exposure; the effect of solar radiation management (stratospheric aerosol injections) on UV radiation relevant for plants; and possible revisions to the vitamin D action spectrum, which describes the wavelength dependence of the synthesis of previtamin D 3 in human skin upon exposure to UV radiation. Graphical abstract

This study analyses the variability and trends of ultraviolet-B (UV-B, wavelength 280–320 nm) radiation that can cause DNA damage. The variability and trends caused by climate change due to enhanced greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations. The analysis is based on DNA-active irradiance, total ozone, total cloud cover, and surface albedo calculations with the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts – Hamburg (ECHAM)/Modular Earth Submodel System (MESSy) Atmospheric Chemistry (EMAC) chemistry–climate model (CCM) free-running simulations following the RCP 6.0 climate scenario for the period 1960–2100. The model output is evaluated with DNA-active irradiance ground-based measurements, satellite SBUV (v8.7) total-ozone measurements, and satellite MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Terra cloud cover data. The results show that the model reproduces the observed variability and change in total ozone, DNA-active irradiance, and cloud cover for the period 2000–2018 quite well according to the statistical comparisons. Between 50∘ N–50∘ S, the DNA-damaging UV radiation is expected to decrease until 2050 and to increase thereafter, as was shown previously by Eleftheratos et al. (2020). This change is associated with decreases in the model total cloud cover and negative trends in total ozone after about 2050 due to increasing GHGs. The new study confirms the previous work by adding more stations over low latitudes and mid-latitudes (13 instead of 5 stations). In addition, we include estimates from high-latitude stations with long-term measurements of UV irradiance (three stations in the northern high latitudes and four stations in the southern high latitudes greater than 55∘). In contrast to the predictions for 50∘ N–50∘ S, it is shown that DNA-active irradiance will continue to decrease after the year 2050 over high latitudes because of upward ozone trends. At latitudes poleward of 55∘ N, we estimate that DNA-active irradiance will decrease by 8.2 %±3.8 % from 2050 to 2100. Similarly, at latitudes poleward of 55∘ S, DNA-active irradiance will decrease by 4.8 % ± 2.9 % after 2050. The results for the high latitudes refer to the summer period and not to the seasons when ozone depletion occurs, i.e. in late winter and spring. The contributions of ozone, cloud, and albedo trends to the DNA-active irradiance trends are estimated and discussed.

Clouds and aerosols, as well as overhead ozone, can have large effects on ultraviolet (UV) irradiances. We use statistical methods to remove cloud effects and mean aerosol effects from spectral UV irradiance measurements to investigate the relationship between UV and total column ozone. We show that for fixed solar zenith angles (SZA), seasonal changes in ozone lead to marked changes in clear-sky UV irradiances. Such effects are larger at mid-latitudes than in the tropics. At mid-latitudes, the minimum ozone amount over the course of a year can be about 50 percent of its maximum, with the lowest values in autumn and the highest values in spring. These seasonal ozone changes lead to UV Index (UVI) values in autumn that can exceed those in spring at the same SZA by nearly a factor of two. Differences are even larger for UV spectra weighted by the action spectra for DNA-damaging UV, and for cutaneous previtamin D production. In some cases, the seasonal increase exceeds a factor of 4. The analysis experimentally demonstrates the limits of applicability of the concept of constant Radiative Amplification Factors (RAFs) for estimating effects of changes in ozone for some weighting functions. Changes in DNA-weighted UV and erythemally weighted UV are well represented by the published RAFs. However, there are large SZA dependencies in the case of UVB and vitamin D-weighted UV. For all weightings considered, RAFs calculated from the observations as a function of SZA show similar dependencies between sites, in good agreement with published values, independently of the ozone data source.

The eruption of the submarine Hunga volcano in January 2022 was associated with a powerful blast that injected volcanic material to altitudes up to 58 km. From a combination of various types of satellite and ground-based observations supported by transport modeling, we show evidence for an unprecedented increase in the global stratospheric water mass by 13% relative to climatological levels, and a 5-fold increase of stratospheric aerosol load, the highest in the last three decades. Owing to the extreme injection altitude, the volcanic plume circumnavigated the Earth in only 1 week and dispersed nearly pole-to-pole in three months. The unique nature and magnitude of the global stratospheric perturbation by the Hunga eruption ranks it among the most remarkable climatic events in the modern observation era, with a range of potential long-lasting repercussions for stratospheric composition and climate.

The Australian bushfires of 2019/20 caused a massive injection of combustion products into the stratosphere that led to a persistent planetary-scale perturbation of all stratospheric climate-relevant variables. This extreme event enabled study of a striking atmospheric phenomenon, the smoke-charged vortex (SCV) – a persistent synoptic-scale anticyclone, which acts to confine the carbon-rich aerosol clouds during their solar-driven rise. This way, highly-concentrated absorbing aerosols are lofted above 30 km, which prolongs their stratospheric residence time and radiative effects. Here, we use lidar observations at Lauder, New Zealand together with high-resolution radiosonde data and ozone soundings as well as satellite observations (CALIPSO, MLS, TROPOMI) and ERA5 reanalysis to characterize the optical, chemical and thermodynamical properties of a matured 7-km-tall SCV during its transfer over the South Island at 27 km altitude. The gaseous composition of the SCV was characterized by strongly enhanced water vapour and depleted ozone concentrations, leading to a synoptic-scale ozone hole with the total column reduced by up to 20%. The lidar measurements reveal a characteristic bottom-side elongation of the smoke bubble – a tail of aerosols extending over hundreds of kilometers and rotating together with the main body. Using long-term ground-based lidar and satellite measurement records, we show that monthly-mean stratospheric aerosol optical depth in early 2020 was highest since the major eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991. With that, the removal of smoke aerosol from the stratosphere took longer than one year.

ABSTRACT The column-averaged, dry air mole fractions of CO2 and CH4 (XCO2 and XCH4, respectively) were retrieved from short-wavelength infrared (SWIR) spectra observed by the Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT). Continuous measurements of SWIR spectra have been made via GOSAT since 2009, but there has been insufficient investigation of the effects of cirrus clouds and aerosols on the observations. In this work, we investigated the influences of aerosols and cirrus clouds on the differences between GOSAT observations and Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) data for XCO2 and XCH4 (ΔXCO2 and ΔXCH4) at three sites: Tsukuba and Saga in Japan, and Lauder in New Zealand. We used aerosol optical thickness (AOT), Angstrom exponents (AEs), and single scattering albedo (SSA), all obtained from sky radiometer observations, as well as vertical profiles of aerosols and thin cirrus clouds from lidar observations. Matchups were performed within ±0.1° latitude/longitude rectangular areas of each TCCON site, and within 30 min of the GOSAT overpass time. The results show a negative slope between ΔXCO2 and AOT at 500 nm determined from sky radiometer data at Tsukuba and Saga. The GOSAT XCO2 values tended to be lowered in the presence of cirrus clouds and dense boundary-layer aerosols. Moreover, a significant negative ΔXCO2 was observed at times of large AOTs that resulted from dust-like events. At Lauder, ΔXCO2 was negatively correlated with the AOT at 500 nm, although the AOT at this site was generally small. The mean ± standard deviation for ΔXCO2 and ΔXCH4 at Lauder are −0.80 ± 1.83 (ppm) and −5.27 ± 10.79 (ppb) with correlation coefficients r between GOSAT and TCCON of 0.94 and 0.83, respectively. Both ΔXCO2 and ΔXCH4 were significantly and negatively correlated with the AOT during Sep-Oct-Nov. In addition, stratospheric aerosols caused large negative biases of ΔXCO2 and ΔXCH4 at Lauder despite the small stratospheric aerosol optical depth at that site.

Abstract The inorganic chlorine (Cly) and odd nitrogen (NOy) chemical families influence stratospheric O3. In January 2020 Australian wildfires injected record‐breaking amounts of smoke into the southern stratosphere. Within 1–2 months ground‐based and satellite observations showed Cly and NOy were repartitioned. By May, lower stratospheric HCl columns declined by ∼30% and ClONO2 columns increased by 40%–50%. The Cly perturbations began and ended near the equinoxes, increased poleward, and peaked at the winter solstice. NO2 decreased from February to April, consistent with sulfate aerosol reactions, but returned to typical values by June ‐ months before the Cly recovery. Transport tracers show that dynamics not chemistry explains most of the observed O3 decrease after April, with no significant transport earlier. Simulations assuming wildfire smoke behaves identically to sulfate aerosols couldn't reproduce observed Cly changes, suggesting they have different composition and chemistry. This undermines our ability to predict ozone in a changing climate.

The Environmental Effects Assessment Panel of the Montreal Protocol under the United Nations Environment Programme evaluates effects on the environment and human health that arise from changes in the stratospheric ozone layer and concomitant variations in ultraviolet (UV) radiation at the Earth's surface. The current update is based on scientific advances that have accumulated since our last assessment (Photochem and Photobiol Sci 20(1):1-67, 2021). We also discuss how climate change affects stratospheric ozone depletion and ultraviolet radiation, and how stratospheric ozone depletion affects climate change. The resulting interlinking effects of stratospheric ozone depletion, UV radiation, and climate change are assessed in terms of air quality, carbon sinks, ecosystems, human health, and natural and synthetic materials. We further highlight potential impacts on the biosphere from extreme climate events that are occurring with increasing frequency as a consequence of climate change. These and other interactive effects are examined with respect to the benefits that the Montreal Protocol and its Amendments are providing to life on Earth by controlling the production of various substances that contribute to both stratospheric ozone depletion and climate change.

Linked Article: Cherrie et al. Br J Dermatol 2021; 185:363–370.