Summary
The 2016 ozone hole developed in the first week of August and reached its maximum size in late September. Overall, the 2016 ozone hole was in the 'middle of the pack' compared to the last 37 holes for which we have satellite data since 1979, ranking between 17th and 20th for a range of metrics. The polar vortex in 2016 appears to be affected by wave activity that results in the ozone hole oscillating between periods of distortion and relative stability. The development and recovery of the 2016 ozone hole will be shown via a set of metrics based on the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on board the Earth Observing Satellite (EOS) Aura, and the OMPS (Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite) instrument on the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite (Suomi NPP). Other observational results will be shown to complement these satellite data. The 2016 ozone hole metrics will be compared to the historical metrics, and these will be linearly regressed against Equivalent Effective Stratospheric Chlorine (EESC) data that are based entirely on Cape Grim Air Archive, Antarctic firn and AGAGE global measurements of ozone depleting substances (ODS). The year-to-year variability of the ozone hole does not reflect variations in the level of ODSs in the Antarctic stratosphere, which, based on surface observations, have fallen approximately 10% since their peak around 2000, or have fallen by approximately 19% since their peak around 2000 relative to 1980 levels of ODSs. The decadal variations in the ozone hole do reflect the long-term changes of ODSs in the Antarctic stratosphere and the results shown here suggest that ozone hole recovery has commenced.