--- title: Ozone Layer Is Slowly Recovering, Scientists Say description: Finally, some good news about the environment canonical: https://time.com/3326722/ozone-layer-hole-antarctica-recover/ author: Noah Rayman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-11T12:25:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:07:46.236Z article:section: Science og:title: Ozone Layer Is Slowly Recovering, Scientists Say og:description: Finally, some good news about the environment og:url: https://time.com/3326722/ozone-layer-hole-antarctica-recover/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcea83baf02890ac3/6986a2c435ba6f155fc03bae/ozone-rebounds_raym.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Ozone Rebounds og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ozone Layer Is Slowly Recovering, Scientists Say twitter:description: Finally, some good news about the environment twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcea83baf02890ac3/6986a2c435ba6f155fc03bae/ozone-rebounds_raym.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ozone Layer Showing Signs of Recovery, Study Finds  by [Noah Rayman](https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Sep 11, 2014 12:25 PM UTC  This undated image provided by NASA shows the ozone layer over the years, Sept. 17, 1979, top left, Oct. 7, 1989, top right, Oct. 9, 2006, lower left, and Oct. 1, 2010, lower right. This undated image provided by NASA shows the ozone layer over the years, Sept. 17, 1979, top left, Oct. 7, 1989, top right, Oct. 9, 2006, lower left, and Oct. 1, 2010, lower right.NASA/AP  by [Noah Rayman](https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Sep 11, 2014 12:25 PM UTC The depleted protective ozone layer that has left a gaping hole over Antarctica is showing signs of recovering, a UN panel of scientists said Wednesday. The [report](http://montreal-protocol.org/Assessment%5FPanels/SAP/SAP2014%5FAssessment%5Ffor%5FDecision-Makers.pdf) found early indications of an increase in total ozone levels, which stabilized around 2000 after two decades of decline. The hole over Antarctica that appears every year, which grew to about 30 million square km in 2006, has also stopped expanding, according to the report. Scientists realized in the 1970s that chemicals used in refrigerants and aerosol cans known as chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, were wearing down the ozone layer, which helps the Earth repel potentially harmful radiation from the sun. But an international movement to ban or replace CFCs, buttressed by the 1987 Montreal Protocol, has helped reduce the amount of CFC in the atmosphere. “It’s a victory for diplomacy and for science and for the fact that we were able to work together,” chemist Mario Molina, one of the coauthors of a 1974 study predicting ozone depletion, [told the Associated Press](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/scientists-say-the-ozone-layer-is-recovering/2014/09/10/a26a1fe8-390d-11e4-a023-1d61f7f31a05%5Fstory.html). While past studies have found slowing ozone depletion, the UN report Wednesday is the first to show indications of an increase in total ozone, Geir Braathen, a senior scientific officer with the World Meteorological Organization, which co-produced the report, told [Reuters](http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/10/us-environment-ozone-idUSKBN0H522M20140910). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3326722/ozone-layer-hole-antarctica-recover/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3326722/ozone-layer-hole-antarctica-recover/"},"headline":"Ozone Layer Showing Signs of Recovery, Study Finds","datePublished":"2014-09-11T12:25:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:07:46.236Z","description":"Finally, some good news about the environment","url":"https://time.com/3326722/ozone-layer-hole-antarctica-recover/","keywords":["Environment","Science topic","United Nations"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcea83baf02890ac3/6986a2c435ba6f155fc03bae/ozone-rebounds_raym.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Noah Rayman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcea83baf02890ac3/6986a2c435ba6f155fc03bae/ozone-rebounds_raym.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ozone Rebounds","caption":"Ozone Rebounds","creditText":"NASA/AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/environment/","name":"Environment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3326722/ozone-layer-hole-antarctica-recover/","name":"Ozone Layer Showing Signs of Recovery, Study Finds"}}]}] ```