The first decreases in Antarctic total ozone were observed in the early 1980s over research stations located on the Antarctic continent. The measurements were made with ground-based Dobson spectrophotometers (see Additional Topics: Global Ozone Network). The observations showed unusually low total ozone during the late winter/early spring months of September, October, and November. Total ozone was lower in these months compared with previous observations made as early as 1957. The early published reports came from the Japan Meteorological Agency and the British Antarctic Survey. The results became widely known to the world after three scientists from the British Antarctic Survey published their observations in the scientific journal Nature in 1985 and speculated that CFCs were the cause. Soon after, satellite measurements confirmed the spring ozone depletion and further showed that in each late winter/early spring season starting in the early 1980s, the depletion extended over a large region centered near the South Pole. The term "ozone hole" came about as a description of the very low total ozone values that encircled the Antarctic continent in satellite images for many weeks (see Q11: How severe is the depletion of the Antarctic ozone layer? ). Currently, the formation and severity of the Antarctic ozone hole are documented each year by a combination of satellite, ground-based, and balloon observations of ozone.
Very early Antarctic ozone measurements. The first total ozone measurements made in Antarctica with Dobson spectrophotometers occurred in the 1950s following extensive measurements in the Northern Hemisphere and Arctic region. Total ozone values found in spring were around 300 DU, surprisingly lower than in the Arctic spring, because the assumption then was that the two polar regions would have similar values. We now know that these Antarctic values were not anomalous; indeed they are similar to those observed there in the 1970s before the ozone hole appeared (see Figure Q11-3 in Q11: How severe is the depletion of the Antarctic ozone layer? ). We also now know that Antarctic total ozone values, in comparison with Arctic values, are systematically lower in the early spring because the polar vortex is much stronger and, therefore, much more effective in reducing the transport of ozone-rich air from midlatitudes to the pole (compare Figures Q11-3 in Q11: How severe is the depletion of the Antarctic ozone layer? and Q12-2 in Q12: Is there depletion of the Arctic ozone layer? ).
In 1958, measurements of total ozone were made at the Dumont d'Urville station (66.7°S, 140°E) in Antarctica using a photographic plate method to analyze solar ultraviolet radiation after it passed through the ozone layer. The reported measurements were anomalously low, reaching 110-120 DU in September and October. These values are similar to minimum ozone hole values now routinely observed over Antarctica in the same months (see Figure Q11-2 in Q11: How severe is the depletion of the Antarctic ozone layer? ). Some have speculated that these limited observations provide evidence that an ozone hole existed before ODS emissions were large enough to cause the depletion. However, analyses of the more extensive Dobson spectrophotometer measurements made at several other Antarctic locations in 1958 did not confirm the low total ozone values. These measurements indicate that the photographic plate determinations were not a reliable source of total ozone values at the Dumont d'Urville station in 1958.