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TOMS Ozone at the South Pole: August 1, 2000, to October 2, 2000

The year 2000 Antarctic ozone hole is the largest ever observed to date. Scientists continue to investigate the phenomenon, and are somewhat surprised by its scale. Using data from NASA's Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) instrument onboard the Earth Probe satellite, researchers can evaluate and compare current conditions over the south pole to readings taken by other instruments in years past. Continued monitoring of polar ozone levels helps researchers gain a better understanding of how the planet's climate may be changing. This animation shows a huge section of the atmosphere around the south pole that's comparatively devoid of ozone. The gap reached a record size of 28.3 million kilometers squared on September 3, 2000. The previous record was 27.2 million square kilometers squared recorded on Sept. 19, 1998. Although current measurements of the ozone hole show that it has stabilized, low value points in the interior continue to decline. The lowest values are typically observed in the late September or early October.

Stratospheric Ozone level for October 2, 2000.    Stratospheric Ozone level for October 2, 2000.

Available formats:
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  320 x 240         JPEG       9 KB
  160 x 80           PNG       24 KB
  80 x 40             PNG         7 KB

Animation Number:2629
Completed:2000-10-03
Animator:Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC) (Lead)
Scientist:Paul Newman (NASA/GSFC)
Platforms/Sensors/Data Sets:Earth Probe/TOMS
 Earth Probe/TOMS/Total Ozone
Data Collected:2000/08/01-2000/10/02
Series:Stratospheric Ozone
Video:SVS2000-0006 *
Goddard TV Tape:G2000-082A
Keywords:
SVS >> Antarctic
DLESE >> Atmospheric science
SVS >> Ozone
GCMD >> Location >> Stratosphere
This work has been visible on
Dr. Jeffrey Masters: http://www.wunderground.com/education/ozone_skeptics.asp
 
 
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Scientific Visualization Studio


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