Smoke from Black Summer bushfires depleted ozone layer, study finds

The pyrocumulonimbus clouds formed during the Black Summer bushfires sent smoke particles kilometres upwards into the stratosphere. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Smoke injected high into the atmosphere by the 2019-2020 Australian bushfires resulted in a depletion of the ozone layer, new research has found.

Scientists have found that the smoke from the devastating bushfires caused a 1% loss in ozone – an amount that typically takes one decade to recover.