Possible trigger of volcanic eruption: Record-sized ozone hole discovered in the South Pole

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This is one of the largest ozone holes ever measured: “Our ozone monitoring and forecasting service shows that the ozone hole formed in early 2023 and has been growing rapidly since mid-August,” says Antje Inness, senior scientist at the Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS).

“On September 16, it reached a size of more than 26 million square kilometers, making it one of the largest ozone holes ever documented,” Inness says of the region with the extremely depleted ozone layer.

Possible cause: “ozone killer” and volcanic eruption

Researchers see several possible reasons for the record ozone depletion. On the one hand, new “ozone killers” have been increasingly introduced to the market in recent years. This, along with climate change, leads to the thinning of the ozone layer over the South Pole and the North Pole. On the other hand, researchers suspect that the eruption of an underwater volcano in Tonga could also be the trigger.

Using the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite, CAMS researchers are currently measuring the extent of ozone depletion in Antarctica using atmospheric gases. The ozone hole over the South Pole is most noticeable in September and October. During these months, spring comes in the southern hemisphere: the polar night ends and solar radiation triggers ozone-depleting reactions in the still very cold Antarctic stratosphere.

150,000 kilotons of water in the stratosphere

The “Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai” volcano erupted in January 2022. “The eruption threw a lot of water vapor into the stratosphere, but it only reached the south polar region after the 2022 ozone hole ended,” explains Inness. According to research, 150,000 kilotons of water entered the stratosphere; This figure is a figure that has not been measured before. Over the Arctic, water vapor has led to increased formation of polar stratospheric clouds, the environment that promotes ozone-depleting reactions.

But researchers lack reference values ​​for this: Since no volcanic eruption has thrown so much gas into the stratosphere before, the cause of the record ozone hole has not yet been clearly elucidated. (gs)

Source : Blick