Ozone Hole Continues Shrinking

The depleted area of the ozone layer over the Antarctic was slightly smaller than last year and generally continued the overall shrinking trend of recent years.

The annual Antarctic ozone hole reached an average area of 23.2 million square kilometers between September 7, 2022, and October 13, 2022.

the ozone layer over the South Pole was slightly smaller than the average for the same period last year and generally continued the overall shrinking trend of recent years.

“Over time, steady progress is being made, and the hole is getting smaller,” said Paul Newman, chief scientist for Earth sciences at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “We see some wavering as weather changes and other factors make the numbers wiggle slightly from day to day and week to week. But overall, we see it decreasing through the past two decades. The elimination of ozone-depleting substances through the Montreal Protocol is shrinking the hole.”

source Earth Observatory NASA