Antarctic ozone hole expands to record levels: NASA scientists

The ozone hole over Antarctica expanded this month to one of the largest sizes on record due to unusually cold temperatures in the stratosphere, which could lead to more harmful ultraviolet rays reaching the Earth, according to NASA.

The 2015 Antarctic ozone hole area was larger and formed later than in recent years, reaching a peak of 28.2 million square kilometres, an area larger than North America, said scientists from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). 

The large size of this year’s ozone hole will likely result in increases of harmful ultraviolet rays at Earth’s surface, particularly in Antarctica and the Southern Hemisphere in the coming months, researchers said.

The hole reached its peak on October 2 and remained large and set many area daily records throughout. Unusually cold temperature and weak dynamics in the Antarctic stratosphere this year resulted in this larger ozone hole.

In comparison, last year the ozone hole peaked at 24.1 million square kilometres on September 11. Compared to the 1991-2014 period, the 2015 ozone hole average area was the fourth largest.