Antarctic ozone hole about average in 2016

The hole in the Earth’s ozone layer that forms over Antarctica each September grew to about 8.9 million square miles in 2016 before starting to recover, according to scientists from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) who monitor the annual phenomenon.

4 ways the ozone hole is linked to climate, and 1 way it isn’t

To mark the peak of ozone hole season, we’re highlighting four ways that climate and the ozone hole are related—and one important way they aren’t.

Pacific Oxidants, Sulfur, Ice, Dehydration, and cONvection (POSIDON) Experiment

The NASA Pacific Oxidants, Sulfur, Ice, Dehydration, and cONvection (POSIDON) Experiment is a focused airborne science mission to study the ozone distribution, sulfur chemistry, very short-lived ozone depleting species (VSLS), cloud microphysics, and dehydration in the tropical upper troposphere and lower stratosphere over the western Pacific.

NOAA “reels in” data on Utah’s winter ozone problem

A deep sea fishing rod is probably not the first tool that comes to mind when thinking about how to study air pollution in a remote inland desert, but it’s the heart of a new NOAA system that has given scientists a minute-by-minute look at how quickly the sun can convert oil and gas facility emissions to harmful ground-level ozone.

Robert (Bob) D. Evans of ESRL Global Monitoring Division receives the prestigious IO3C Farman Award Nomination

Robert (Bob) D. Evans of ESRL Global Monitoring Division receives the prestigious IO3C Farman Award Nomination For Sustaining a Long-term Inter-calibrated World-wide Dobson Total Ozone Observing Network. The "Joseph C. Farman Award" is granted to one or more outstanding scientists who have created and used high-quality, long-term time series of atmospheric measurements related to the study of atmospheric ozone and/or surface ultraviolet radiation.

Atmospheric Tomography Mission (ATom)

The Atmospheric Tomography Mission (ATom) is a NASA-funded multi-agency effort using the NASA DC-8 research aircraft to systematically sample trace gases and aerosols from sea level to the stratosphere on 10 pole-to-pole flights covering the Atlantic and Pacific oceans over the next 3 years. ATom will study the impact of human-produced air pollution on greenhouse gases and on chemically reactive gases in the atmosphere with a focus on ozone, methane, and black carbon, as well as atmospheric particulate matter.

2015 Sets a Record Low for Antarctic Ozone Hole in October

NOAA’s measurements of ozone at South Pole registered a record low for the month of October. This year, the average amount of ozone measured by a Dobson instrument at South Pole in the second half of October was 114 Dobson Units (DU), or 60 percent below the pre-ozone hole conditions.

Annual Antarctic Ozone Hole Larger and Formed Later in 2015

The 2015 Antarctic ozone hole area was larger and formed later than in recent years, according to scientists from NOAA and NASA.

Antarctic ozone hole similar to last year

The Antarctic ozone hole, which forms annually in the August to October period, reached its peak size on September 11, stretching to 9.3 million square miles (24.1 million square kilometers), roughly the same size as last year’s peak of 9.3 million square miles (24 million square kilometers) on September 16, 2013. This is an area similar in size to North America.

Understanding the Ozone Hole - a video designed for high school level students

The sun rises at the South Pole every Sept 21, after six months of darkness, and the spark of light from the rising sun also starts a season of ozone depletion down south. With the approach of that date in mind, a CIRES/NOAA scientist and videographer has developed a short, educational video that focuses on the ozone research being conducted by NOAA and CIRES scientists.

Encouraging information from this year's observations of the Antarctic ozone hole

For nearly 50 years, scientists with NOAA have launched high-altitude balloons from the South Pole, to understand why a hole was forming in the protective ozone layer high in the atmosphere. Now, organizations around the world track the infamous ozone hole through these ballon-sondes, satellite measurements and ground instruments.

Global Hawk UAS Study of Climate Changing Stratospheric Water Vapor & Ozone

The first science flights of the NASA Global Hawk UAS in the winter portion of the Airborne Tropical TRopopause EXperiment (ATTREX) are set to begin the week of 28 January 2013. Six science flights from Edwards Air Force Base, California are scheduled. The UAS experimental payload includes two NOAA/ESRL instruments measuring water vapor, two measuring ozone and one measuring methane, nitrous oxide, hydrogen, and sulfur hexafluoride. Five NOAA/ESRL and six CIRES scientists are at the NASA Dryden facility supporting the missions.

NOAA, NASA: Antarctic ozone hole second smallest in 20 years

Warmer air temperatures high above the Antarctic led to the second smallest seasonal ozone hole in 20 years, according to NOAA and NASA satellite measurements

Polar Sunrise and the Ozone Hole at South Pole, Antarctica: Sept. 22, 2012

At the bottom of the world, fifty people are looking forward to seeing the sun peek above the horizon on or around September 22 – the first time they have seen the sun in six months. NOAA ESRL/ GMD personnel LTJG Heather Moe and Johan Booth spent the Antarctic winter working at NOAA’s Atmospheric Research Observatory located at the geographic South Pole. The Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, one of three United States research stations in Antarctica, only experiences one sunrise and sunset per year due to its location at 90˚S latitude.

Utah’s winter air quality mystery. NOAA study targets high ozone pollution events in western oil and gas fields

NOAA Scientists and colleagues from the Utah Air Quality Division, the NOAA Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado , and several other institutions launched the Winter Ozone Study in the Uintah Basin. The team is studying the basin with chemistry instruments for six weeks, to understand where the ingredients of ground-level ozone are coming from, and how wintertime temperature inversions and snow on the ground contribute to record-breaking ozone levels.

NOAA, NASA: Significant ozone hole remains over Antarctica

The Antarctic ozone hole, which yawns wide every Southern Hemisphere spring, reached its annual peak on September 12, stretching 10.05 million square miles, the ninth largest on record. Above the South Pole, the ozone hole reached its deepest point of the season on October 9 when total ozone readings dropped to 102 Dobson units, tied for the 10th lowest in the 26-year record.

South Pole ozone hole update

Scientists from NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL), Global Monitoring Division, are closely watching the development of the Antarctic ozone hole from the South Pole observatory.

Bryan Johnson, Monitoring ozone at the ends of the Earth

Bryan Johnson is an atmospheric scientist at NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory who specializes in ozone research. He has a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Montana State University, but after two years working in the oil industry he decided to shift gears. He went on to graduate school and earned a master's in meteorology from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and a Ph.D. in atmospheric sciences from the University of Arizona. His current research at ESRL in Boulder, Colo., focuses on monitoring atmospheric ozone and estimating rates of ozone depletion across the globe. And he gets to use really big balloons to do it.