Scientists Warn, Antarctic Ozone Hole, Is 'Larger Than Usual'.
According to scientists, the Southern Hemisphere ozone hole is larger than usual, already surpassing the size of Antarctica.
On September 16, the European Union’s
Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service said that
the ozone hole has grown considerably in the past week.
NBC News reports that the hole in the ozone appears every
year during the Southern Hemisphere's spring.
Forecasts show that this year´s hole has evolved into a rather larger than usual one, Vincent-Henri Peuch, Heads of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, via NBC News.
We are looking at a quite big and potentially also deep ozone hole, Vincent-Henri Peuch, Heads of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, via NBC News.
Atmospheric ozone absorbs
ultraviolet light coming from the sun.
Without the atmosphere's protection, more
of this high-energy radiation reaches
Earth, where it can harm living cells.
Peuch noted that last year’s ozone hole became
one of the longest-lasting ones on record.
NBC News reports that the 1987 Montreal Protocol banned a group of chemicals called halocarbons, blamed
for accelerating the annual ozone hole.
Experts warn that it is likely to take
until the 2060s for ozone-depleting
substances to be phased out entirely