(CNN) An ozone hole that formed over the Arctic this spring and eventually grew into the largest ever recorded there has closed.

Thus, despite what you may be thinking, it's recovery most likely can't be tracked to the reduction in pollution due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"COVID19 and the associated lockdowns probably had nothing to do with this," the group said on Twitter . "It's been driven by an unusually strong and long-lived polar vortex, and isn't related to air quality changes."

Still, the hole was massive -- most of the ozone typically found around 11 miles into the stratosphere was depleted, the group said. The last time such a strong chemical ozone depletion was observed in the Arctic occurred nearly a decade ago.

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