NASA's AURA Satellite Peers Into Earth's Ozone Hole

摘要

NASA researchers, using data from the agency's AURA satellite, determined the seasonal ozone hole that developed over Antarctica this year is smaller than in previous years. NASA's 2005 assessment of the size and thickness of the ozone layer was the first, based on observations from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument on the agency's Aura spacecraft. Aura was launched in 2004. This year's ozone hole measured 9.4 million square miles at its peak, between September and mid-October, which was slightly larger than last year's peak. The size of the ozone hole in 1998, the largest ever recorded, averaged 10.1 million square miles. For 10 of the past 12 years, the Antarctic ozone hole has been larger than 7.7 million square miles. Before 1985, it measured less than 4 million square miles.