The “hole” in the ozone layer is mainly over Antarctica, above the South Pole in Earth’s stratosphere.

Quick Scoop: Where it is and what it really is

  • The classic ozone “hole” forms over Antarctica each Southern Hemisphere spring (about September–November).
  • It sits high in the atmosphere, in the stratosphere, roughly 15–30 km above the surface.
  • It is not a literal empty hole, but a large region where ozone levels drop well below 220 Dobson Units (a standard ozone-measurement threshold).

Why Antarctica?

  • Extremely cold stratospheric temperatures over Antarctica create special polar stratospheric clouds that help chlorine and bromine chemicals rapidly destroy ozone.
  • Strong circumpolar winds form a “polar vortex” that traps these chemicals over the Antarctic region, so the depletion is concentrated there instead of spreading evenly around the globe.

Are there ozone holes anywhere else?

  • Smaller or short‑lived ozone thinning events can occur in the Arctic, but these are usually less severe than the recurring Antarctic ozone hole.
  • Globally, the ozone layer outside the polar regions has also thinned somewhat, but the most dramatic and famous depletion remains above Antarctica.

Latest news and trend

  • Monitoring up to the mid‑2020s shows the Antarctic ozone hole is still appearing each year, but on average it has been slowly shrinking compared with its peak in the early 2000s.
  • International controls on ozone‑depleting substances (like CFCs) under the Montreal Protocol are a key reason scientists expect the ozone layer to recover to near‑normal levels by around the middle of this century, if current policies stay in place.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.