As the world the reviving amidst lockdown due to coronavirus, a massive hole has opened up in the ozone layer above the Arctic. As per scientists, it is the consequence of unusually low temperatures in the atmosphere above the north pole.
Is The Black Hole Dangerous For Humans?
The hole, which has been traced from space and the ground over the past few days, has reached record dimensions but is not expected to pose any danger to humans unless it moves further south. If the hole extends further south over populated areas, such as southern Greenland, people would be at increased risk of sunburn. However, going by the current trends the hole is expected to disappear altogether in a few weeks.
Low temperatures in the northern polar regions led to an unusual stable polar vortex, and the presence of ozone-destroying chemicals such as chlorine and bromine in the atmosphere – from human activities – caused the hole to form.
As per Vincent-t-Henri Peuch, director of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, "The hole is principally a geophysical curiosity. We monitored unusual dynamic conditions, which drive the process of chemical depletion of ozone. [Those dynamics] allowed for lower temperatures and a more stable vortex than usual over the Arctic, which then triggered the formation of polar stratospheric clouds and the catalytic destruction of ozone.”
The hole is not related to the Covid-19 shutdowns that have drastically cut air pollution and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. It is also too early to say whether the unusually stable Arctic polar vortex conditions are linked with the climate crisis, or part of normal stratospheric weather variability.
Peuch said there were no direct implications for the climate crisis. Temperatures in the region are already increasing, slowing the depletion of ozone, and the hole will start to recede as polar air mixes with ozone-rich air from lower latitudes. The last time similar conditions were observed was in spring 2011.
While a hole over the Arctic is a rare event, the much larger hole in the ozone layer over the Antarctic has been a major cause for concern for more than four decades. The production of ozone-depleting chemicals has been drastically reduced, under the 1987 Montreal Protocol, but some sources appear still to be functioning – in 2018, unauthorized emissions were detected from eastern China.