meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Life Scientific

Lucy Carpenter on how our oceans are destroying ozone

The Life Scientific

BBC

Society & Culture, Personal Journals, Science

4.61.4K Ratings

🗓️ 21 April 2026

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Working on a remote tropical island in the Atlantic might sound like some sort of romantic idyll - but trying to conduct scientific research on a windy, isolated volanic outcrop is no picnic, as Lucy Carpenter can attest!

Lucy is an atmopsheric chemist and a Professor at the University of York, whose work has helped to transform understanding of how oceans shape the air above them. She was one of the founding scientists behind the Cape Verde Atmospheric Observatory, established on São Vicente in 2006 and now a key global monitoring site. Measurements made there helped overturn a long-standing assumption: ozone loss is not solely a human-made problem. Lucy and her colleagues showed that gases released by natural marine processes can trigger chemical reactions that destroy ozone - demonstrating that the sea is not simply a passive backdrop to climate change but an active participant; affecting aerosols, clouds and ultimately the climate itself.

More recently Lucy's expertise has taken her into the policy arena, co-chairing the scientific assessment panel for the Montreal Protocol: the international agreement designed to protect the ozone layer.

In conversation with Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Lucy dicusses her journey from sampling ocean air to turning the tide of global environmental policy - and explains why her passion for duathlons could arguably be seen as an easier pastime than scientific research.

Presented by Jim Al-Khalili Produced by Lucy Taylor A BBC Studios production

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts.

0:07.0

Shall we get cracking?

0:08.7

You've got a BBC podcast coming up.

0:10.8

These were immensely popular.

0:13.0

But if you also like looking back,

0:14.7

then the BBC has loads of history podcasts to offer.

0:17.6

Proof that being a historian is a very exciting job.

0:19.7

Covering everything.

0:20.7

From epic events.

0:21.7

It was the year 1666.

0:23.8

Two personal stories.

0:25.0

It was an anxiety that people felt even in the ancient world.

0:27.9

So in future, for more history podcasts.

0:30.4

Free people making a free choice about what they wanted.

0:34.3

Search History on BBC Sounds.

0:38.2

You're about to listen to the latest series of The Life Scientific.

0:42.4

Episodes will be released weekly wherever you get your podcasts.

0:46.2

But if you're in the UK, you can listen to the latest episodes 28 days before anywhere else, first on BBC Sounds.

0:55.8

Hello, we begin today in the Mid-Atlantic, on the island of Sao Vicente in Cape Verde,

1:02.5

a place of trade winds and lava fields where the air blowing inland has spent days

1:07.8

travelling over open ocean, clean air, the kind that atmospheric chemists dream of.

1:13.3

Atmospheric chemists such as Lucy Carpenter, professor at the University of York,

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.