Ozone depletion consists of two related events observed since the late 1970s: a steady lowering of about four percent in the total amount of ozone in Earth's atmosphere,[citation needed] and a much larger springtime decrease in stratospheric ozone (the ozone layer) around Earth's polar regions.[1] The latter phenomenon is referred to as the ozone hole. There are also springtime polar tropospheric ozone depletion events in addition to these stratospheric events.