Get the free digest
Science

Ozone Hole Reaches Its 2026 Maximum

Measured by its mean size from September 7 to October 13, which is peak ozone depletion season, the 2026 hole was the seventh largest in 48 years of monitoring.

✦ Extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting•From 1 source•1 min read•Updated November 9, 2026, 5:00 AM UTC
Key points
  • Records in depth and area have never occurred in the same year (the largest ozone hole occurred in 2006), but the long-term trend in both characteristics is consistent: from 1980 through the early 1990s, the hole rapidly grew in area and depth.
  • NASA Earth Observatory/Lauren Dauphin This story is an update to the Antarctic ozone hole feature in our World of Change series, which documents how Earth changes over months, seasons, and years.
  • That was the case in 2026, when an unusually strong Antarctic polar vortex created ideal conditions for ozone depletion over a large area.

These maps show the state of the ozone hole each year on the day of maximum depth—the day the lowest ozone concentrations were measured.

The data visualizations below show the ozone hole each year from 1979 through 2026 (no data are available for 1995).

Additional details
  • NASA satellite instruments revealed the continental scale of this Antarctic ozone thinning, and it came to be known as the ozone hole.
  • Scientists define the ozone hole as the area in which ozone concentrations drop below the historical threshold of 220 Dobson units.
  • The maximum depth of the hole that year was 194 Dobson Units (DU)—not far below the previous historical low.
  • The map at the top of this page shows the hole on September 18, the day of its annual maximum area.
  • The ozone hole opened the world’s eyes to the global effects of human activity on the atmosphere.

How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →

Advertisement

Every article behind this summary — 1 article from 1 outlet

NASA NewsNovember 9, 2026, 5:00 AM UTC →

Related stories