What would be the immediate impact on Earth's surface if the ozone layer were destroyed?

• A. Increased ultraviolet radiation reaching the surface
• B. Global warming would accelerate significantly
• C. There would be no noticeable change
• D. More rainfall worldwide

Answer: (A)

The protective shield role of the ozone layer is being tested here: it absorbs most of the sun’s ultraviolet radiation, especially the harmful UV-B wavelengths. If the ozone layer were destroyed, that shielding would vanish, allowing much more UV to reach the surface right away. This increase in surface UV has immediate and well-known consequences for living systems and materials—more sunburn, higher risks of skin cancer and cataracts in humans, immune system suppression, DNA damage, and stress to plants and aquatic life such as phytoplankton, which can ripple through ecosystems. Climate-related changes like global warming or rainfall shifts are not the direct, immediate result of losing ozone shielding, because those effects depend on different processes and longer-term feedbacks. So the immediate impact is a rise in ultraviolet radiation reaching the Earth's surface.