Jump to content
  • Sign Up
×
×
  • Create New...

[NASA] NASA, NOAA Rank 2025 Ozone Hole as 5th Smallest Since 1992

SpaceMan

By SpaceMan,
in World News

 Share

Recommended Posts

  • Diamond Member
SpaceMan Hunter

SpaceMan 0

Posted
  • Diamond Member
Posted

5 min read

NASA, NOAA Rank 2025 Ozone Hole as 5th Smallest Since 1992

Earth (ESD)

While continental in scale, the ozone hole over the Antarctic was small in 2025 compared to previous years and remains on track to recover later this century, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported. The hole this year was the fifth smallest since 1992, the year a landmark international agreement to phase out ozone-depleting chemicals began to take effect.

At the height of this year’s depletion season from Sept. 7 through Oct. 13, the average extent of the ozone hole was about 7.23 million square miles (18.71 million square kilometers) — that’s twice the area of the contiguous United States. The 2025 ozone hole is already breaking up, nearly three weeks earlier than usual during the past decade.

This is the hidden content, please
This map shows the size and shape of the ozone hole over the South Pole on the day of its 2025 maximum extent. Moderate ozone losses (orange) are visible amid areas of more potent ozone losses (red). Scientists describe the ozone “hole” as the area in which ozone concentrations drop below the historical threshold of 220 Dobson units.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using data courtesy of NASA Ozone Watch and GEOS-5 data from the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office at NASA GSFC

The hole reached its greatest one-day extent for the year on Sept. 9 at 8.83 million square miles (22.86 million square kilometers). It was about 30% smaller than the largest hole ever observed, which occurred in 2006, and had an average area of 10.27 million square miles (26.60 million square kilometers).

“As predicted, we’re seeing ozone holes trending smaller in area than they were in the early 2000s,” said Paul Newman, a senior scientist with the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and leader of the ozone research team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “They’re forming later in the season and breaking up earlier. But we still have a long way to go before it recovers to 1980s levels.”

NASA and NOAA scientists say this year’s monitoring showed that controls on ozone-depleting chemical compounds established by the

This is the hidden content, please
and subsequent amendments are driving the gradual recovery of the ozone layer in the stratosphere, which remains on track to recover fully later this century.

The ozone-rich layer acts as a planetary sunscreen that helps shield life from harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the Sun. It is located in the stratosphere, which is found between 7 and 31 miles above the Earth’s surface. Reduced ozone allows more UV rays to reach the surface, resulting in crop damage as well as increased cases of skin ******* and cataracts, among other adverse health impacts.

The ozone depletion process starts when human-made compounds containing chlorine and bromine rise high into the stratosphere miles above Earth’s surface. Freed from their molecular bonds by the more intense UV radiation, the chlorine and bromine-containing molecules then participate in reactions that destroy ozone molecules. Chlorofluorocarbons and other ozone-depleting compounds were once widely used in aerosol sprays, foams, air conditioners, and refrigerators. The chlorine and bromine from these compounds can linger in the atmosphere for decades to centuries.

“Since peaking around the year 2000, levels of ozone-depleting substances in the Antarctic stratosphere have declined by about a third, relative to pre-ozone-hole levels,” said Stephen Montzka, a senior scientist with NOAA’s 

This is the hidden content, please
. 

As part of the 1987 Montreal Protocol, countries agreed to replace ozone-depleting substances with less harmful alternatives.

“This year’s hole would have been more than one million square miles larger if there was still as much chlorine in the stratosphere as there was 25 years ago,” Newman said.

Still, the now-banned chemicals persist in old products like building insulation and in landfills. As emissions from those legacy uses taper off over time, projections show the ozone hole over the Antarctic recovering around the late 2060s.

NASA and NOAA previously ranked ozone hole severity using a time frame dating back to 1979, when scientists began tracking Antarctic ozone levels with satellites. Using that longer record, this year’s hole area ranked 14th smallest over 46 years of observations.

Factors like temperature, weather, and the strength of the wind encircling Antarctica known as the

This is the hidden content, please
also influence ozone levels from year to year. A weaker-than-normal polar vortex this August helped keep temperatures above average and likely contributed to a smaller ozone hole, said Laura Ciasto, a meteorologist with NOAA’s
This is the hidden content, please
.

Researchers monitor the ozone layer around the world using instruments on NASA’s

This is the hidden content, please
, the
This is the hidden content, please
, and the
This is the hidden content, please
, jointly operated by NASA and NOAA.

NOAA scientists also use instruments carried on

This is the hidden content, please
and upward-looking surface-based instruments to measure stratospheric ozone directly above the
This is the hidden content, please
. Balloon data showed that the ozone concentration reached its lowest value of 147 Dobson Units this year on Oct. 6. The lowest value ever recorded over the South Pole was 92 Dobson Units in October 2006.

This is the hidden content, please
NOAA scientists launch a weather balloon carrying an ozonesonde near the South Pole in September 2025.
Simeon Bash/IceCube – courtesy of NOAA

The

This is the hidden content, please
is a measurement that indicates the total number of ozone molecules present throughout the atmosphere above a certain location. A measurement of 100 Dobson Units corresponds to a layer of pure ozone 1 millimeter thick — about as thick as a dime — at standard temperature and pressure conditions.

View the latest status of the ozone layer over the Antarctic with

This is the hidden content, please
.

By Sally Younger

NASA’s Earth Science News Team

News Media Contacts:

Elizabeth Vlock
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
*****@*****.tld

Peter Jacobs
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-3308
*****@*****.tld

Theo Stein
NOAA Communications
303-819-7409
*****@*****.tld

About the Author

Sally Younger

Share

Details

Last Updated
Nov 24, 2025

Related Terms

Explore More

This is the hidden content, please

This is the hidden content, please

This is the hidden content, please

This is the hidden content, please

This is the hidden content, please

This is the hidden content, please

This is the hidden content, please

This is the hidden content, please

This is the hidden content, please

This is the hidden content, please

This is the hidden content, please

Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From NASA

This is the hidden content, please

0

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Vote for the server

    To vote for this server you must login.

    Jim Carrey Flirting GIF

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

Important Information

Privacy Notice: We utilize cookies to optimize your browsing experience and analyze website traffic. By consenting, you acknowledge and agree to our Cookie Policy, ensuring your privacy preferences are respected.

  I accept