In this aerial photo, Hollywood stars, including Salma Hayek and Jake Gyllenhaal, join Canadian Inuits on an ice floe on the Arctic frontier of Iqaluit, Nunavut, to form the image of an Inuit drum dancer on April 22, 2005. (David Crane/Los Angeles Daily News/AP)
The Antarctic ozone hole occurs every year, despite efforts to slow the release of ozone-destroying forms of chlorine, and the new hole over parts of the Canadian Arctic let in harmful ultraviolet radiation over parts of northern Europe, Russia and Canada.
The Nature report states:
The discovery of the hole comes as the Canadian government mulls a decision to cut its ozone monitoring network, the National Post reports.
The Arctic hole is not as deep as the Antarctic, and the hole likely was a result of chlorine-based pollutants in the stratosphere coupled with an extreme cold wave in the region, according to the Nature report. Scientists are unsure if the results will repeat next year.
