Anniversaries
Ozone Day 2007: celebrating the 20th anniversary
of the Montreal Protocol
 The Montreal Protocol, the landmark international treaty to protect the stratospheric ozone layer, was signed 20 years ago on 16 September 1987. In 1994, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 16 September the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer and the year 2007 International Year of the Ozone Layer
Between 17 and 21 September 2007, the signatories met in Montreal to chart the future of the Protocol and to ensure that the remaining uses of ozone-depleting substances are phased out.
The Montreal Protocol currently has 191 Parties. It is one of the most successful international environmental treaties and has resulted so far in the global phase-out of the production and consumption of more than 95 per cent of ozone-depleting substances worldwide.Scientists have determined that the rate of decline in ozone has been reduced, and that ozone levels are no longer declining over mid-latitude areas. Clear evidence of the start of a recovery of the ozone layer is anticipated within the next decade.
WMO coordinates the observing network which provides the data for monitoring global ozone and the implementation of the Protocol and issues on the state of Arctic and Antarctic ozone.
Word’s highest temperature recorded 85 years ago
It was 85 years ago on 13 September this year that the Earth’s highest temperature was recorded in Al Azizia, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. At 58°C, the record remains unbeaten.
To commemorate the event, Mr Khalid El Fadli, Director of the Climate and Agrometeorology Department of the , gave a lecture which included historical climatological observations in Lybia, the geography of El Azizia and the beginnings of climatological observations at the meteorological station there.
200 years of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
This year, NOAA celebrates its 200th anniversary.
In 1807, President Thomas Jefferson founded the US Coast and Geodetic Survey (as the Survey of the Coast) to provide nautical charts to the maritime community for safe passage into American ports and along our extensive coastline. The Weather Bureau was founded 1870 and, one year later, the US Commission of Fish and Fisheries was founded. Individually, these organizations were America's first physical science agency, America's first agency dedicated specifically to the atmospheric sciences, and America's first conservation agency.
The cultures of scientific accuracy and precision, service to protect life and property, and stewardship of resources of these three agencies were brought together in 1970, with the establishment of NOAA, an agency within the Department of Commerce.
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