The aurora borealis created a 250-mile-wide hole in Earth’s ozone layer

The aurora borealis unleashed amazing light shows in the night sky, but they also illuminate another cause of ozone depletion.

Although humans are responsible for much of the depletion of the ozone layer, observations of a type of aurora borealis known as the aurora borealis have revealed the cause of the ozone depletion that comes from space: solar flares And the coronal mass ejection Also keep nibbling at the ozone layer. Before now, the effect of these particles was only vaguely known.

Now, an international research team has found that the effects of isolated auroras have caused a 250-mile-wide (400 kilometer) hole in the ozone layer, which is exploding below where the auroras occur. Most of the ozone disappeared within about an hour and a half. The researchers explained in statement.

Isolated proton aurora may not be as flashy as Northern lights and its southern counterpart, but it is still visible to the human eye. Plasma onslaught I unleashed the sun It brings with it high-energy ions and electrons. These particles end up stuck in the ground and beyond Van Allen radiation beltswhich prevents particles from directly bombarding the planet and turning it into a wasteland like the sun Mars.