Record-breaking hole in ozone layer over Arctic closed

Scientists have revealed that the hole observed in the ozone layer above the Arctic last month has healed itself.

The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) tweeted about the development. “The unprecedented 2020 northern hemisphere #OzoneHole has come to an end. The #PolarVortex split, allowing #ozone-rich air into the Arctic, closely matching last week's forecast from the #CopernicusAtmosphere Monitoring Service,” read the post

The ozone layer protects Earth from Sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. It is found in Earth’s stratosphere, a layer of the atmosphere around 10–50 kilometres above sea level.
 

Scientists had attributed the forming of the hole in the ozone layer above the North Pole to unusually low temperatures in the atmosphere above the region. The researchers from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) discovered the hole using data from the Copernicus Sentinel–5P satellite.

“The ozone hole we observed over the Arctic this year has a maximum extension of less than 1 million sq. km. This is small compared to the Antarctic hole, which can reach a size of around 20 to 25 million sq. km with a normal duration of around three to four months,” Diego Loyola of the German Aerospace Center had said.

The CAMS had said that a similar depletion of the ozone layer was found over the Arctic in the spring of 2011.

 

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