What is ozone hole?

Ozone hole is usually referred to as The Antarctic ozone hole and was discovered in 1985 by British scientists Joesph Farman, Brian Gardiner, and Jonathan Shanklin of the British Antarctic Survey. Ozone layer protects Earth from harmful ultraviolet rays that are coming from space. Ozone hole is man-made, created by human produced harmful gases as these gases are reducing concentrations of ozone in the stratosphere. Exposure to ultraviolet rays has serious impact on human health, significantly increasing risk of skin cancer.

Ozone layer protects earth from harmful ultraviolet rays that are coming from space

According to NASA this year's ozone hole over Antarctica reached area of 10.5 million square miles, which is increase of 0,8 million square miles compared to last year's 9.7 million square miles. Record size was in 2006. The ozone hole does not persist hole year and it generally forms in August growing to its maximum size in September or October before breaking up.

And here is one very interesting video that will show you how ozone hole changed its shape and size in the past 30 years.