Record setting lack of ozone measured over Hungary

The ozone layer has never been so thin over Hungary as it was on the 21^st of July last week. According to hvg.hu, the phenomenon was probably caused by a western stream. Besides the thin ozone layer, the UV radiation rates increased quite a lot, so it’s fortunate that the sky became cloudy in most places.

Record breakingly low ozone content rates were measured by the Hungarian Meteorological Service’s Marczell György Main Observatory last Thursday. The continuous measurement of the ozone content has been done since 1969 in the observatory. The measured 298 and 294 DU rates are 12% lower than the average rate operative for that day. The lower boundary of natural versatility (in other words, the rate difference compared to the average of many years, which is still normal according to the data of long years) was 11% on the 21^st of July, meaning that this rate is abnormally low.

The DU (Dobson Unit) rate is used to characterise the ozone layer. Similar rates were measured at the Antarctic when the world actually realised that the ozone layer is dangerously thinning there: the thickness of the ozone layer dropped from 320 to 280 DU between 1955 and 1975.