The largest ozone hole over the Arctic has closed

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A record-breaking ozone hole that formed over the Arctic this spring has closed, researchers announced late last week.

"The unprecedented 2020 northern hemisphere ozone hole has come to an end. The polar vortex split, allowing ozone-rich air into the Arctic ," disclosed the European Union’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service on its Twitter account.

According to the study by the EU’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service titled CAMS tracks a record-breaking Arctic ozone hole , the conditions needed for ozone depletion are not normally found in the Northern Hemisphere .

The Antarctic ozone hole is mainly caused by human-made chemicals including chlorine and bromine that migrate into the stratosphere. These chemicals accumulate inside the strong polar vortex that develops over the Antarctic every winter.

However, in 2020 the Arctic polar vortex has been exceptionally strong and long lived. Plus, temperatures in the Arctic allowed the formation of PSCs, resulting in large ozone losses over the Arctic .

sg