The European Space Agency (ESA) has reported that the hole in Antarctica’s ozone layer has expanded to nearly record size.
The hole had spread to an area of 2.6 million square kilometers on September 16.
According to ISA, this hole is 3 times the size of Brazil.
According to the European Space Agency, every year between August and October, the hole in the ozone layer expands, but this year, it started expanding faster from mid-August.
Experts from the European Meteorological Agency Copernicus said that this year a huge hole was seen over Antarctica.
It is not yet clear why the hole in the ozone layer got so big this year.
But according to experts, this happened due to the eruption of Tonga’s underwater volcano in January 2022, during which a large amount of water vapor was spread over the Hawaiian sphere.
The vapor reached the South Pole in late 2022 when the hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica closed, so the hole began expanding rapidly in August.
However, scientists said that this is just an idea and it remains to be known what effect the volcanic eruption in Tonga had on the ozone layer of the South Pole.
According to experts, this year too, the ozone layer will return to normal by the end of December.
Keep in mind that in January 2023, a UN report stated that the ozone layer that protects our planet from the sun’s dangerous rays will be completely restored in 4 decades.
In 1987, a global agreement was reached to stop the use of hazardous chemicals that were causing damage to the ozone layer.
The UN report said that the ozone layer in other parts of the world except the poles will be fully recovered by 2040.
In the North Pole, this process is likely to be completed by 2045 and in Antarctica by 2066.
Since the global agreement, 99% of hazardous chemicals that damage the ozone layer have been phased out, which has gradually improved the ozone layer.
The recovery of the ozone layer is slow and will reach 1980s levels by 2040, the report said.