Ozone Hole Reaches Peak

The Antarctic ozone hole has reached a peak September 12, 2011 according to sciencedaily.com. The hole stretched 10.5 million square miles which is the ninth largest in record.

The ozone layer helps protect the planets surface from many things such as harmful rays from the sun or ultraviolet radiation. Environmentalist have been monitoring the Antarctic ozone hole for a while and have found "The upper part of the atmosphere over the South Pole was colder than average this season and that cold air is one of the key ingredients for ozone destruction," said James Butler, director of NOAA's Global Monitoring Division in Boulder.

Many instruments are made to track the hole and its size. According to sciencedaily.com,
"researchers do not expect a smooth, steady recovery of Antarctic ozone, because of natural ups and downs in temperatures and other factors that affect depletion, noted NOAA ESRL scientist Bryan Johnson. Johnson helped co-author a recent NOAA paper that concluded it could take another decade to begin discerning changes in the rates of ozone depletion."

The Antarctic ozone hole.