WORLDTECHSpace & Science
NOAA and NASA data show 2026 Antarctic ozone hole ranked seventh-largest in 48 years
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File:Cosmic Blasts Much More Common, Astronomers Discover (2006-xrf).jpg / Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss / Cosmic Blasts Much More Common, Astronomers Discover / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain / https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cosmic_Blasts_Much_More_Common,_Astronomers_Discover_(2006-xrf).jpgSource pageWith permission.) Atypical weather conditions caused the Antarctic ozone hole to grow to an unusually large size in 2026, NOAA and NASA scientists reported today, though they said the protective ozone layer is still on track to recover by later this century. Fueled by a powerful polar vortex, the 2026 ozone hole became the seventh-largest in 48 years of monitoring, based on NOAA and NASA analysis of the seasonal mean area. However, scientists noted that this year’s hole would have been larger still if levels of ozone-destroying chemicals in the atmosphere had not been reduced through international cooperation.
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