Satellite studies demonstrate that smoke from Australia’s wildfires two years ago had an impact on the Earth’s protective barrier against dangerous UV rays. Bushfires were found to be so intense that smoke soared into the atmosphere, resulting in a chain of chemical reactions that depleted the ozone layer. They warned that recent efforts to restrict ozone-depleting chemicals could be jeopardized as a result. The ozone layer is recovering at a rate of roughly 1% per decade at mid-latitudes. According to the study’s lead author, Prof Susan Solomon of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States, wildfire damage will considerably impede development. Prof. Clare Murphy (Paton-Walsh) of the University of Wollongong remarked on the work, which was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. She anticipated that ozone depletion will reappear after large fires, which are expected to become more common in the next decades as a result of climate change.