Posted in: 05/07/2022 – 17:34
Scientists have discovered a “huge” ozone hole, which was unexpected, in the atmospheric region located above almost the entire equatorial region. This newly discovered hole is seven times larger than the famous ancient hole that was located over the Antarctic region.
Professor Cheng Bin Lu, a scientist from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, noted that the hole is more than 30 years old and affects a vast area that might affect half the world’s population.
He continued in an interview with The Independent: “Unlike the Antarctic ozone hole, which appears only in the spring, the equatorial hole extends over all seasons since the eighties and its area is approximately seven times larger.”
He pointed out that the new hole will raise global concern because it may cause increases in ultraviolet radiation at the ground level and risks associated with skin cancer, cataracts, and other negative effects on health and ecosystems in the tropics.
The researcher was surprised that this hole had not been discovered before, but he pointed out some of the main challenges to achieving this discovery. He added, “First, a photochemically no tropical ozone hole was expected in the region. Second, unlike the seasonal Antarctic/Arctic ozone holes that appear mainly in spring, the tropical ozone hole has not changed fundamentally across seasons, and is therefore not visible in the original observed data.
