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This year, the ozone hole over Antarctica reached its annual maximum extent on September 28th, 2024,

With an area of 8.5 million square miles (22.4 square million kilometers.)

The hole, which is actually a region of depleted ozone, was the 30th largest since scientists began recording the ozone hole in 1979.

The average size of the ozone hole between September and October this year was the 7th-smallest since the Montreal Protocol began to take effect.

The annual maximum extent of the ozone hole can vary year to year due to weather, but the multi-decadal record shows that the ozone layer appears to be slowly recovering.

“The weakening we’ve seen in the last two decades shows that international efforts that curbed ozone-destroying chemicals are working.” -Paul Newman, Chief Scientist for Earth Sciences at NASA Goddard

NASA and NOAA researchers continue to observe ozone through instruments aboard NASA’s Aura satellite, NOAA-20 satellites, and a joint NASA and NOAA satellite called Suomi-NPP.