The European Space Agency’s satellite spotted the phenomenon above the Southern Arctic Circle.
Copernicus Sentinel-5p, the European Space Agency’s satellite, recently recorded the largest ozone hole in history. The discovery was not particularly surprising in the scientific world, since it has been possible to read the signs for years and know that there is a big problem in the air layers above the region.
Last year, the amount of Antarctic ice, which is 90 percent of the total ice-covered area of our planet, lost one and a half million square kilometers from the 17 million square kilometers measured in the same period the year before last. If nothing else, the conclusion could certainly be drawn from this that the ozone layer over the region has fatally thinned.
Rather, we can speak of thinning, since the ozone layer (HE3) its depletion, and not its absence, is called an ozone hole. In this case, this part of the atmosphere will be much more vulnerable. The sun’s ultraviolet rays enter the atmosphere almost unfiltered, which on the one hand can be extremely harmful to living organisms, and on the other hand has a detrimental effect on the climate. Currently, the “ozone hole” is about 26 million square kilometers, which is three times the area of Brazil.
The thinning of the ozone layer above the southern pole was discovered by scientists in the 1980s. As a result of the subsequent research, strict rules were adopted worldwide regarding the use of ozone-depleting substances. Their use is regulated by the so-called Montreal Protocol, which was signed by the ratifying countries in 1987, despite this, according to a report published this spring, the presence of several banned substances was discovered in the atmosphere. Since then, no explanation has been found for this, and so far there is no idea to reduce the extent of the depleted ozone layer either.
