What is the Antarctic ozone hole? An ozone hole is the thinning of the ozone layer boosted in size by colder temperatures. The 2020 Antarctic hole was unprecedented as the polar vortex kept the temperature
What is the Antarctic ozone hole?
An ozone hole is the thinning of the ozone layer boosted in size by colder temperatures. The 2020 Antarctic hole was unprecedented as the polar vortex kept the temperature of the ozone layer cold, preventing the mixing of ozone depleted air above Antarctica with ozone rich air from higher latitudes.
Why is the Antarctic ozone hole important?
World of Change: Antarctic Ozone Hole. The stratospheric ozone layer protects life on Earth by absorbing ultraviolet light, which damages DNA in plants and animals (including humans) and leads to sunburns and skin cancer.
What does ozone hole exactly mean?
The term ‘ozone hole’ refers to the depletion of the protective ozone layer in the upper atmosphere (stratosphere) over Earth’s polar regions. Polar stratospheric clouds create the conditions for drastic ozone destruction, providing a surface for chlorine to change into ozone-destroying form.
Where is the ozone hole in Antarctica?
The 2020 Antarctic ozone hole grew rapidly from mid-August and peaked at around 24.8 million square kilometres on 20 September 2020, spreading over most of the Antarctic continent. It was the longest-lasting and one of the largest and deepest holes since the ozone layer monitoring began 40 years ago.
Why is losing ozone bad?
Ozone depletion is a major environmental problem because it increases the amount of ultraviolet (UV) radiation that reaches Earth’s surface, which increases the rate of skin cancer, eye cataracts, and genetic and immune system damage.
Why does the ozone hole form in spring?
The very low winter temperatures in the Antarctic stratosphere cause polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) to form. Special reactions that occur on PSCs, combined with the isolation of polar stratospheric air in the polar vortex, allow chlorine and bromine reactions to produce the ozone hole in Antarctic springtime.
Does the US have ozone layer?
A new study out of Harvard University reveals that the protective stratospheric ozone layer above the central United States is vulnerable to erosion during the summer months from ozone-depleting chemical reactions, exposing people, livestock and crops to the harmful effects of UV radiation.