Amid the coronavirus outbreak, nature is healing itself from the air pollution caused by humans over the years. People locked down inside the houses are helping nature to take back its old form.
The positive side is that the largest hole in the Ozone layer, spreading 1 million square kilometers, above the Arctic has closed due to unusual atmospheric conditions. The information has been confirmed by Copernicus ECMWF, A European satellite system, which has found that the largest ozone layer hole over the Arctic has healed.
“Unprecedented 2020 northern hemisphere #OzoneHole has come to an end. The #PolarVortex split, allowing #ozone-rich air into the Arctic, closely matching last week’s forecast from the #CopernicusAtmosphere Monitoring Service.”, wrote the European Satellite monitoring agency taking through a micro-blogging website.
The unprecedented 2020 northern hemisphere #OzoneHole has come to an end. The #PolarVortex split, allowing #ozone-rich air into the Arctic, closely matching last week’s forecast from the #CopernicusAtmosphere Monitoring Service.
More on the NH Ozone hole➡️https://t.co/Nf6AfjaYRi pic.twitter.com/qVPu70ycn4
— Copernicus ECMWF (@CopernicusECMWF) April 23, 2020
In the beginning of April, scientists found a hole of one million square kilometres in the ozone layer above the North Pole. It was considered as the biggest hole in history.
But, the closing of the hole has nothing to do too with the reduction in levels of pollution amid lockdown. It’s because of the polar vortex, high-altitude currents that are responsible for bringing cold air to polar regions.
It is believed that the ozone layer is healing due to the worldwide lockdown causing a reduction in air pollution. However, scientists say that the earth has been able to heal the ozone layer hole due to the polar vortex, the high-altitude currents that normally bring cold air to the polar regions.
What is the Ozone Layer?
The ozone layer works as a protective shield as it prevents Sun’s ultraviolet rays, which can cause skin cancer from entering Earth. The hole above the arctic circle could have posed severe damage to humans if it has increased to populated areas. The Antarctic ozone hole is mainly caused by human-made chemicals including chlorine and bromine that migrate into the stratosphere, a layer of the atmosphere around 10–50 kilometers above sea level.
According to Copernicus, the last time similarly strong chemical ozone depletion was observed over the Arctic was during spring 2011.
