Good News

An international agreement to phase out ozone-depleting chemicals is proving successful. The ozone hole above Antarctica has shrunk to its smallest extent since 1988.

The largest the hole became this year was about 7.6 million square miles wide, about two and a half times the size of the United States, in September. But it was still 1.3 million square miles smaller than last year, scientists said, and has shrunk more since September.

Update (February 9, 2018):  Well, unfortunately, global ozone is continuing to decline. A study by lead author William Ball with ETH Zurich finds that while total ozone declined 5 percent from 1970 to 1998, it has continued to decline another 0.5 percent since then.

Update (November 6, 2018):  A UN report finds the ozone layer is recovering at a rate of 1 to 3 percent per year since 2000.

Update (November 18, 2018):  The New York Times reports on evidence that rogue Chinese factories are still producing trichlorofluoromethane which is supposed to be phased out under the Montreal Protocol.