The Antarctic ozone hole was the seventh largest in 48 years of monitoring, NASA reports

9 November 2026

NASA's Earth Observatory reports that this year's Antarctic ozone hole was the seventh largest in 48 years of monitoring, measured by its mean size between 7 September and 13 October. Its annual maximum area came on 18 September 2026. Even so, the hole was not as deep as other large holes on record. An unusually strong Antarctic polar vortex created conditions that favoured ozone loss over a wide area, since colder stratospheric air tends to make the hole both wider and thinner in its core. The 2026 measurements came from the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite carried on the NOAA-20 satellite, continuing a record that began with instruments on Nimbus-7 and later on Aura and Suomi NPP. Around 80 percent of the chlorine in the stratosphere now comes from human sources. Under the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which phases out the production and consumption of ozone-depleting chemicals, the ozone layer is expected to return to 1980 levels in the 2070s. British Antarctic Survey scientists first reported the hole in 1985.