OZONE HOLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does ozone hole mean? 

• OZONE HOLE (noun)
  The noun OZONE HOLE has 1 sense:

1. an area of the ozone layer (near the poles) that is seasonally depleted of ozone

  Familiarity information: OZONE HOLE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OZONE HOLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An area of the ozone layer (near the poles) that is seasonally depleted of ozone

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Hypernyms ("ozone hole" is a kind of...):

hole (an opening into or through something)

Holonyms ("ozone hole" is a part of...):

ozone layer; ozonosphere (a layer in the stratosphere (at approximately 20 miles) that contains a concentration of ozone sufficient to block most ultraviolet radiation from the sun)

 Context examples 

Scientists expect the ozone hole to gradually become less severe and recover back to 1980 levels around 2070.

(Warmth in the Antarctic stratosphere helped limit the size of the ozone hole in 2017 to the smallest observed since 1988, NOAA)

“As far as the ozone hole being gone, we’re looking at 2060 or 2080. And even then there might still be a small hole.”

(First Direct Proof of Ozone Hole Recovery Due to Chemicals Ban, NASA)

Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), which was once used in applications such as dry cleaning and as a fire-extinguishing agent, was regulated in 1987 under the Montreal Protocol along with other chlorofluorocarbons that destroy ozone and contribute to the ozone hole over Antarctica.

(Ozone-depleting compound persists, NASA)

Past studies have used statistical analyses of changes in the ozone hole’s size to argue that ozone depletion is decreasing.

(First Direct Proof of Ozone Hole Recovery Due to Chemicals Ban, NASA)

The two agencies have monitored the ozone hole for the past 25 years.

(Warmth in the Antarctic stratosphere helped limit the size of the ozone hole in 2017 to the smallest observed since 1988, NOAA)

Looking forward, the Antarctic ozone hole should continue to recover gradually as CFCs leave the atmosphere, but complete recovery will take decades.

(First Direct Proof of Ozone Hole Recovery Due to Chemicals Ban, NASA)

The smaller ozone hole in 2017 was strongly influenced by an unstable and warmer circulation pattern in the Antarctic stratosphereoffsite link that minimized the formation of high-altitude clouds.

(Warmth in the Antarctic stratosphere helped limit the size of the ozone hole in 2017 to the smallest observed since 1988, NOAA)

Two years after the discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole in 1985, nations of the world signed the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, which regulated ozone-depleting compounds.

(First Direct Proof of Ozone Hole Recovery Due to Chemicals Ban, NASA)

The ozone hole reached its peak extent on Sept. 11, covering an area about two and a half times the size of the United States, and then declined through the remainder of September and into October.

(Warmth in the Antarctic stratosphere helped limit the size of the ozone hole in 2017 to the smallest observed since 1988, NOAA)

For the first time, scientists have shown through direct satellite observations of the ozone hole that levels of ozone-destroying chlorine are declining, resulting in less ozone depletion.

(First Direct Proof of Ozone Hole Recovery Due to Chemicals Ban, NASA)