Portuguese
The size of the hole in the ozone layer in the Southern Hemisphere exceeded the size of Antarctica, a continent with an area of about 14 million square kilometers, announced today the European Copernicus Service, which monitors the atmosphere.
Scientists from Copernicus, the European Union’s Earth observation programme, who have been closely monitoring the evolution of the ozone hole over the Antarctic announced.
On International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, which falls today, the team released new data on the layer of the atmosphere that protects Earth from harmful ultraviolet rays.
“This year, a hole in the ozone layer created as expected at the beginning of the season. It looks very similar to previous years, which were not exceptional in September, but then it became one of the biggest years on our records at the end of the season,” revealed Copernicus manager Vincent Henry Buch.
According to scientists’ estimates, this year the hole will develop in a different way than usual.
“The vortex is quite stable and stratospheric temperatures are lower than last year. We are facing a very large and possibly deep hole,” the researcher added.
The monitoring system relies on computer modeling, combined with satellite imagery, similar to weather forecasts, to obtain a comprehensive three-dimensional picture of the ozone hole.
