NASA & NOAA 2025 Ozone Hole Update | Goddard Space Flight Center

NASA & NOAA 2025 Ozone Hole Update | Goddard Space Flight Center

This year, the ozone hole over Antarctica reached its annual maximum extent on Sept. 9th, 2025, with an area of 8.83 million square miles (22.86 million square kilometers.) The average size of the ozone hole between Sept. 7 and Oct. 13 this year was the 5th-smallest since 1992—when the Montreal Protocol began to take effect.

The improvement is due to a combination of continuing declines in harmful chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) chemicals.

The ozone-rich layer high in the atmosphere acts as a planetary sunscreen that helps shield us from harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the Sun. Areas with depleted ozone allow more UV radiation to reach Earth's surface, resulting in increased cases of skin cancer and cataracts. Excessive exposure to UV light can also reduce agricultural yields as well as damage aquatic plants and animals in vital ecosystems.

Scientists were alarmed in the 1970s at the prospect that CFCs could eat away at atmospheric ozone. By the mid-1980s, the ozone layer had been depleted so much that a broad swath of the Antarctic stratosphere was essentially devoid of ozone by early October each year. Sources of damaging CFCs included coolants in refrigerators and air conditioners, as well as aerosols in hairspray, antiperspirant, and spray paint. Harmful chemicals were also released in the manufacture of insulating foams and as components of industrial fire suppression systems.

The Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances that are responsible for ozone depletion. It was agreed on September 16, 1987, and entered into force on January 1, 1989. Since then, it has undergone nine revisions, in 1990 (London), 1991 (Nairobi), 1992 (Copenhagen), 1993 (Bangkok), 1995 (Vienna), 1997 (Montreal), 1999 (Beijing) and 2016 (Kigali).

Countries worldwide agreed to replace the chemicals with more environmentally friendly alternatives by 2010. The release of CFC compounds has dramatically decreased following the Montreal Protocol. However, CFCs already in the air will take many decades to break down. As existing CFC levels gradually decline, ozone in the upper atmosphere will rebound globally, and ozone holes will shrink. 

As a result of the international agreement, the ozone hole in Antarctica is slowly recovering. Due to its widespread adoption and implementation, it has been hailed as an example of successful international co-operation. Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan stated that "perhaps the single most successful international agreement to date has been the Montreal Protocol".

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Kathleen Gaeta (GSFC AIMMS): Lead Producer
Sally Younger (NASA JPL): Lead Writer
Duration: 48 seconds
Release Date: Nov. 24, 2025

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