The Earth’s ecosystem is maintained by the atmospheric circulation. However, with the expansion of Hadley cell, huge climate change is expected. There were only assumptions that the cause of climate change was due to human activity. No one has found an evidence to prove it. Prof. Min Seung-ki (SEE)’s team was the first to prove that the expansion of Hadley cell was due to Freon gas, the ozone layer destroyer. The paper was especially chosen as a major one in the American Geophysical Union.
The research team focused their study on whether the change of Hadley cell was due to human activity or not. They researched the change of Hadley cell’s boundary in the southern hemisphere by comparing the observations and models from 1979 to 2009. The boundary expanded to the polar sides starting from the Antarctic and Indian Ocean and as a result, the team proved the change was caused by the Freon gas destroying the ozone layer.
This research was the first to suggest a nationwide atmosphere circulation could be caused by human, and alerted again the importance of the ozone layer. The ozone layer is expected to recover as time passes on with the help of the Montreal Protocol. The research team is aiming to keep track of the Hadley cell and other climate changes.