Ozone Hole Three Times the Size of Greenland Opens Over the North Pole
Ozone holes open over the South Pole every year. Holes at the North Pole are much, much rarer.
By Brandon Specktor | Senior Writer

LIVE SCIENCE – April 11, 2020 | Scientists have detected what may be the largest hole in the ozone layer ever recorded over the North Pole.

The ozone hole covers an area roughly three times the size of Greenland, scientists from the European Space Agency (ESA) said in a statement, and could expose people living at far northern latitudes to high levels of ultraviolet radiation if it grows much larger. Fortunately, the hole looks likely to close on its own in the next few weeks, the ESA researchers said.

A satellite image shows the new ozone hole spreading over the North Pole.
(Image: © European Space Agency)

Holes form in the ozone layer — which is a sheet of gas in Earth’s atmosphere that absorbs much of the harmful ultraviolet light emitted by the sun — every year over Antarctica due to seasonal changes in cloud cover. Ozone holes over the Arctic, however, are rarer. The last time an Arctic ozone hole opened was in 2011, and it was significantly smaller than the hole seen now, the researchers said.

“From my point of view, this is the first time you can speak about a real ozone hole in the Arctic,” Martin Dameris, an atmospheric scientist at the German Aerospace Center, told Nature.

Something we should be monitoring.

Goin’ out? Better break out the sunscreen, America.