The South Pole Ozone Hole is Now Larger Than Antarctica

The annual hole in the ozone layer that forms over the South Pole has grown larger than Antarctica itself in the past week.

During the southern hemisphere’s spring season, between August and October, the ozone layer over the Antarctic region gets depleted, and the hole reaches its maximum size between mid-September and mid-October.

This year’s ozone hole is now larger than 75% of previous holes at this point in the season since 1979. However, the reason for its larger size is still unclear.

In 2020, the ozone hole peaked at roughly 24 million square kilometers at the beginning of October, which was relatively larger compared to previous years. At the start of this year’s season, it seemed like the hole would be about the same size, but it has considerably grown over the past week.

The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) is closely monitoring this change through computer modeling and satellite observations.

“As far as we can see, it’s no longer growing very fast, but we could still see some increases in the beginning of October,” says Vincent-Henri Peuch at CAMS.

The ozone layer protects us from the sun’s harmful UV rays. The use of synthetic compounds, like chlorofluorocarbons, over the past century has contributed to the formation of these holes. These compounds can reach the stratosphere, where they break down and release chlorine atoms that destroy ozone molecules.

While signs of recovery have been observed since the ban on synthetic compounds, the process of ozone layer recovery is still slow.

“It’s not because one year is super big or super small that the process of the ozone hole recovery is necessarily in danger,” says Peuch. “There is big variability from year to year, and in order to assess the process of the recovery of the ozone layer, one has to look at several years to see the difference.”

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