The hole in the ozone layer — the portion of the stratosphere that protects our planet from the sun's ultraviolet rays — is continuing to decrease. The hole over Antarctica had an average area of 8.91 million square miles (23.2 million square kilometers).
The following heatmap illustrates how the Antarctic ozone hole season has evolved since 1979. In 2022, the maximum ozone hole area of nearly 25 million km2 is reached slightly later than the average and it persists consistently with a large area until December.
The hole still exists but scientists project the ozone layer to return to a condition not seen since before 1980 by about 2050.
Globally, the total column average is about 300 Dobson Units. On Oct. 3, 2022, scientists recorded a lowest total-column ozone value of 101 Dobson Units over the South Pole.
In this NASA false-color image, the blue and purple shows the hole in Earth's protective ozone layer over Antarctica on Oct. 5, 2022. Earth's protective ozone layer is slowly but noticeably healing at a pace that would fully mend the hole over Antarctica in about 43 years, a new United Nations report says.
The ozone layer will not be fully recovered until around 2070. The ozone layer is essential for all life on Earth. Nonetheless, for a number of years we systematically destroyed it. This resulted in a big hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica that will not be fully recovered until around 2070.
How long until the hole is no more? MS: Scientists estimate that the hole in the ozone layer will be no more by the 2060s. However, it's very difficult to talk about complete recovery because the atmosphere itself is very different to what it was when there was no ozone depletion.
DENVER (AP) — Earth's protective ozone layer is slowly but noticeably healing at a pace that would fully mend the hole over Antarctica in about 43 years, a new United Nations report says.
The earth's ozone layer is on track to repair itself in four decades. Researchers have even found a significant thickening of the ozone layer compared to 2018 levels, according to a report released yesterday (Jan. 9) by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
The ozone layer protects life on Earth from the sun's most harmful rays. The discovery of the ozone layer hole in the 1980s promoted successful international cooperation to phase out the use of harmful chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Scientists say the ozone hole is continuing to shrink and could fully repair by 2050.
The stratospheric ozone layer absorbs the biologically damaging wavelengths of ultraviolet (UV) rays but in the 1970s, Australia's ozone layer was severely thinned as a consequence of heavy use of ozone-depleting, substances such as chloroflurocarbons (CFCs) and hydro-chloroflurocarbons (HCFCs).
The elliptical orbit of the Earth places the Southern Hemisphere closer to the sun during its summer months than the Northern Hemisphere during its summer. This means that the summer sun in Australia is 7 to 10 percent stronger than similar latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere.
During summer, the Earth's orbit brings Australia closer to the sun (as compared to Europe during its summer), resulting in an additional 7% solar UV intensity. Coupled with our clearer atmospheric conditions, this means that Australians are exposed to up to 15% more UV than Europeans.
We don't hear much about the hole in the ozone layer anymore. That's because we've all but fixed it, thanks to consumer choices and a massive international agreement called the Montreal Protocol.
Without the ozone layer, the Earth's surface would be sterilized by UV radiation. The breakdown of the ozone layer increases skin cancer and cataracts in humans, impairs immune systems of all animals (including humans), and interferes with phytoplankton productivity in the oceans.
In late September 2022, the Antarctic ozone hole reached its maximum area with 24.5 million km². Up until early November 2022, the Antarctic ozone hole has been similarly large and long-lasting to the ones in 2021 and 2020 [i].
Ozone depletion and climate change are linked in a number of ways, but ozone depletion is not a major cause of climate change.
The extra carbon would likely warm the world by anywhere from 0.5 to 1 C by the end of the century, most likely around 0.8 C, the scientists estimate. That's on top of a likely 1.7 C of extra warming just from the greenhouse effect of CFCs in the atmosphere.
Answer and Explanation: There is only one hole in the ozone layer at any given time.
Earth's climate has varied from extremely warm periods with no polar ice caps to phases when much of the planet was frozen. Our living planet is incredibly resilient and can heal itself over time. The problem is that its self-healing systems are very, very slow.
To halt the depletion of the ozone layer, countries around the world agreed to stop using ozone-depleting substances. This agreement was formalised in the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer in 1985 and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer in 1987.
The Antarctic ozone hole is a thinning or depletion of ozone in the stratosphere over the Antarctic each spring. This damage occurs due to the presence of chlorine and bromine from ozone depleting substances in the stratosphere and the specific meteorological conditions over the Antarctic.
UV problem of another kind
"Tasmania is unique with the fact that in summer it gets to extreme level, and in winter it doesn't even get to moderate," Mr Carr said.
The highest UVI of 25 was in the grid cell centred on Cuzco, in southern Peru (13.5° S, 3360 m a.s.l.). Peak values on the edge of the Antarctic Plateau also exceed the highest UVI in New Zealand, and are comparable to those at sea level in the tropics.
New Zealand's rather cool and temperate temperatures can easily hide the harmful effects of the sun. Yet in any season and any weather, the New Zealand sun can burn. Many people say they get more sunburned in New Zealand than anywhere else in the world, even Australia!