Ozone distribution over the South Pole from July to December during the years 2011 (left) and 2012 (right).
The 2012 ozone hole duration, geographical extension and depth was much smaller than that of 2011. Ozone loss over the South Pole is displayed at the bottom (the bold dark line indicates the ozone loss for 2012 and the grey line for 2011). The ozone maps were generated by the assimilation of GOME-2 total ozone data into the model TM3DAM. GOME-2 is carried by Eumetsat’s MetOp mission.