A GML team, CFC-11 emissions

CIRES scientists Geoff Dutton, Lei Hu, Ben Miller, Debra Mondeel, Fred Moore, David Nance, Eric Ray, Carolina Siso, and Pengfei Yu provided the analytical and interpretive foundations of a paper that has identified substantial unreported emissions of trichlorofluoromethane (CFC-11), a major ozone-depleting substance. Production of CFC-11 has been phased out under the provisions of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer for almost a decade. The finding of unreported emissions represents an unprecedented challenge to the Protocol process, which is supported by all nations. This paper has alarmed the world and inspired scientific research and policy discussions to address the causes and implications of the emissions. The CIRES team ensured that the CFC-11 measurements used in the paper were of the highest analytical quality and that the model-based interpretation that led to the conclusion of unreported emissions considered all processes involving CFC-11 in the atmosphere. Since the release, the United Nations Environment Programme has endorsed the paper’s conclusions in its quadrennial assessment of ozone depletion.