The Human Impacts Database

A collection of useful numbers for quantifying the impacts of the human presence on Earth.

Antarctic ozone hole area

Atmospheric & Biogeochemical CyclesOzone

This quantity comes from a time series measurement and the most recent value (2020) is reported.

Value:

This is equivalent to...

≈ 24 × 106 km2

≈ 9 × 106 mi2
HuID: 17066
Relevant Year(s): 2020
Summary: The average area of the Antarctic ozone hole during the period September 7 – October 13 (Southern Hemisphere spring). Each year for the past few decades during the Southern Hemisphere spring, chemical reactions involving chlorine and bromine cause ozone in the southern polar region to be destroyed rapidly and severely. This depleted region is known as the “ozone hole”.
Method: The data for 1979–1992 are from the TOMS instrument on the NASA/NOAA Nimbus-7 satellite. The data for 1993–1994 are from the TOMS instrument on the Soviet-built Meteor-3 satellite. The data for 1996–October 2004 are from the NASA Earth Probe TOMS satellite. The data starting from November 2004 through June 2016 are from the OMI instrument (KNMI / NASA) onboard the Aura satellite. They are the OMTO3d that have been processed in a manner similar to the TOMS data from earlier years. The data starting July 2016 are from the OMPS instrument onboard the Suomi NPP satellite. To calculate the ozone hole area, missing areas (bad orbits and polar night) are filled using assimilated ozone data (MERRA for 1979 through June 2016, MERRA-2 for July 2016 through August 2017, and GEOS FP from September 2017 on) produced by the Goddard Earth Observing System Data Assimilation System (GEOS DAS). MERRA and MERRA-2 use a version of the GEOS model with the Gridpoint Statistical Interpolation (GSI) atmospheric analysis developed jointly with NOAA/NCEP/EMC. The GEOS FP system integrates forefront versions of the GEOS atmospheric general circulation model with advanced data assimilation techniques, using a broad range of satellite observations. Shadings in the figure show the full range of the ozone hole area daily measurement for the period September 7 – October 13.
Source: NASA Ozone Watch Ozone hole statistics. (2020)
Dataset: Antarctic ozone hole meteorology during Southern Hemisphere spring (NASA_ozone_hole_evolution_SH_spring.csv)
regional resolution
Trend:
Original Data License: CC-BY-NC 4.0
Added By: ilopezgo