© CC BY-SA 2.0 / Eli Duke / Antarctica, White Island
Both small and short-lived ozone holes, as well as bigger ones are known to be driven by very special meteorological conditions: cold stratosphere temperatures have been found to be behind astonishing increases in their size, whereas warming typically causes them to shrink.
A hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica occurs regularly, but now it has expanded to one of its biggest recorded sizes over the past few years, scientists report, as cited by
Science Alert.
Fresh estimates from the European Space Agency's Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite show that the ozone hole reached a maximum size of roughly 25 million square kilometres on 2 October, thereby outpacing the measurements of 2018 and 2015's ozone holes - 22.9 and 25.6 million square kilometres respectively.
Yet, 2020's maximum peak isn't the largest on record. That title belongs to the 29.9-million square kilometre hole registered back in 2000, however, this year's hole is still one of the deepest in recent years.
Atmospheric scientist Vincent-Henri Peuch from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts admits there is a certain variability in the development of such holes from year to year, noting that while it resembles the one from 2018, it "is definitely in the upper part of the pack of the last 15 years or so".
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