Environment

Ozone Hole Healing

Earth’s natural sunscreen against ultraviolet radiation continues to slowly heal after suffering significant damage from now-banned human-made chemicals manufactured in decades past. NASA scientists say the ozone hole was slightly smaller at its annual peak from early September until mid-October, but its size varies each year.

“We see some wavering as weather changes and other factors make the numbers wiggle slightly from day to day and week to week. But overall, we see it decreasing through the past two decades,” said Paul Newman, chief scientist for Earth sciences at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre. The hole in 2021 was one of the largest and deepest in recent years, but Newman says the 1987 Montreal Protocol is still working.