The hole in the ozone that is forming over the South Pole is now larger than Antarctica, one of the largest on record, scientists from the European Union’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service are stating.
The hole in the ozone layer this year widened to among the largest on record, a sign that its recovery will be halting and slow, according to data from Copernicus, the EU observation programme https://t.co/3cwBBzKU9a pic.twitter.com/2EHBpV4Xzk
— Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) October 1, 2021
The ozone depletes and forms a hole over the Antarctic in the Southern Hemisphere’s spring, which is from August to October. It typically reaches its largest size between mid-September and mid-October, according to Copernicus.
After growing at higher rate than usual in the past week, the hole is now larger than 75% of previous years’ ozone holes at the same stage of the season since 1979 and is now bigger that the continent it looms over.
The hole in the Southern Hemisphere is caused by chemicals, such as bromine, chlorine moving up to the stratosphere, at the origin of catalytic reactions.
