Ozone hole in 2026 is largest in a decade, but recovery stays on track

Ozone hole in 2026 is largest in a decade, but recovery stays on track

Ozone hole in 2026 is largest in a decade, but recovery stays on track

The ozone hole over Antarctica in 2026 is the largest in a decade, according to a new report by NOAA and NASA carried by ABC News. It became the seventh largest in 48 years of monitoring, fuelled by an unusually powerful polar vortex, and reached its greatest extent on September 18 at 10.5 million square miles. Scientists stress this does not reverse the long-term recovery: limits on ozone-depleting chemicals have already kept the hole 1 to 2 million square miles smaller than it would otherwise have been, and full recovery is still expected by the 2070s.

The ozone hole over Antarctica in 2026 is the largest in a decade, according to a new report by NOAA and NASA carried by ABC News. It became the seventh largest in 48 years of monitoring, fuelled by an unusually powerful polar vortex, and reached its greatest extent on September 18 at 10.5 million square miles. Scientists stress this does not reverse the long-term recovery: limits on ozone-depleting chemicals have already kept the hole 1 to 2 million square miles smaller than it would otherwise have been, and full recovery is still expected by the 2070s.

The ozone hole over Antarctica in 2026 is the largest in a decade, according to a new report by NOAA and NASA carried by ABC News. It became the seventh largest in 48 years of monitoring, fuelled by an unusually powerful polar vortex, and reached its greatest extent on September 18 at 10.5 million square miles. Scientists stress this does not reverse the long-term recovery: limits on ozone-depleting chemicals have already kept the hole 1 to 2 million square miles smaller than it would otherwise have been, and full recovery is still expected by the 2070s.