This year's ozone hole expected to be smaller

By ANNE BESTON

The ozone hole seems to have shrunk but scientists say it's too soon to know how much smaller it is likely to be this year.

The hole is slowly taking shape in the stratosphere and the region where it forms - the vortex - is the smallest for more than 20 years.

For this time of year, the hole is about half the size it reached in the past two years, according to the World Meteorological Organisation, which reports there is also more ozone around this year.

Over the Dumont d'Urville Sea on the Australian and New Zealand side of Antarctica, ozone levels or "values" have been measured at 10 to 30 per cent above normal.

The final size of the hole won't be known until early next month, but it looks likely there will be more ultraviolet-protecting ozone around this summer. "It's a fairly safe bet [the ozone hole] will be significantly smaller than the record-breakers of the past," said National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research scientist Dr Stephen Wood.

But scientists wouldn't be drawing any conclusions even if the hole was smaller this year, he said.

"You can't judge things on just one year."

Dr Chris Boberg, an Auckland GP with a special interest in skin cancer, said the news about the ozone hole was good, but did not mean New Zealanders should change their sun safety habits. "In the big picture we still have a long way to go."

The ozone hole broke all records in 2000 when it ballooned to a massive 29 million sq km, about four times the size of Australia.

Further reading
nzherald.co.nz/climate

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Further reading
nzherald.co.nz/environment