(map) The Antarctic ozone hole—the total area where ozone amounts are below 220 Dobson units—on September 21, 2023, the day of its largest extent for the year. (graph) The annual maximum extent of the ozone hole in 2023 (light purple bar, measured in millions of square kilometers) compared to all years in the satellite record (dark bars). NOAA Climate.gov image based on NOAA TOAST (map) and NASA (graph) satellite data.
Correction: Nov. 1, 2:12 pm Eastern. Due to an error in the original press release, the title of this image originally stated it was the 16th-largest ozone hole on record. It is the 12th-largest single-day hole on record, and the 16th-largest when averaged from 7 Sept to 13 Oct.