By Yemi Olakitan
Early this year, the yearly ozone hole over Antarctica started to appear. According to scientists, this could be a sign of a larger-than-usual breach, which would cause the Southern Ocean to warm up further.
Dr. Martin Jucker of the Climate Change Research Centre at the University of New South Wales in Australia on Friday, said the hole, which is brought on by a stretching of the ozone layer in the stratosphere, typically begins to form at the end of September, peaks one month later, and closes in November.
However, because the event this year started in August, there are concerns that it may result in a larger-scale opening than in past years, allowing more harmful ultraviolet radiation to warm Antarctic waters and melt already record-low amounts of sea ice.
The annual hole has been gradually shrinking in size since a global agreement on the prohibition of hazardous chlorofluorocarbons and other chemicals was reached in 1989.
The Southern Ocean may warm up more quickly if this tendency were to be reversed, hastening the effects of the climate catastrophe.
The Antarctic and Arctic both experience seasonal thawing and freezing. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which used information from the National Snow and Ice Data Centre, February 2021 witnessed the lowest Antarctic sea ice levels ever observed, which were then followed by multiple record lows.