The Ozone Hole of 2002 as Measured by TOMS

Since its discovery in 1985, the ozone hole has been regularly mapped using the data from Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) instruments on several satellites. The current TOMS, on the Earth Probe satellite, has been taking measurements since 1996. The ozone hole first appeared during the 1980s. Since 1990, the hole has consistently developed during each Antarctic spring over a broad area with the minimum total ozone value reaching about 100 Dobson units (DU; 1 DU = 2.69 × 1016 molecules cm−2) in late September or early October. The year 2002 was markedly different from the past 12 years. A series of strong wave events weakened the South Polar vortex. In late September, a major stratospheric warming took place, reversing the direction of the polar flow and the latitudinal temperature gradient. This warming resulted in a division of the ozone hole into two pieces, one that migrated to lower latitudes and disappeared and one that reformed over the Pole in a weakened form. The development of this year’s unusual ozone hole is shown here and is contrasted to a climatology of the years since 1990. Minimum daily values of total ozone barely reached 150 DU in contrast to values nearer to 100. The area of the ozone hole briefly reached 18 × 106 km2, then dropped rapidly to only 2 × 106 km2, and finally recovered to about 8 × 106 km2 before disappearing in early November. The positive anomaly compared with the last 12 yr near the Pole was accompanied by a smaller negative anomaly north of 45°S.