(UN) Agency worried about ozone hole

http://www.usatoday.com/news/science/2003-10-03-ozone_x.htm

The ozone hole over the South Pole, already as large as it has ever been, is also lasting longer this year, heightening concern about harmful UV radiation reaching the Earth, the United Nations' weather organization said Friday.
Compounding matters, the thinnest area is the largest ever measured, roughly two-thirds of the hole's total size, the World Meteorological Organization said.

"The ozone hole is getting larger, deeper and is lasting longer," said Michael Proffitt, a leading expert on the ozone hole at the U.N. agency. "It has never stayed this large, this late."

The "hole" is a thinner-than-normal area in the protective layer of gas high in the earth's atmosphere. It has formed in August — the end of the Antarctic winter — every year since the mid-1980s, largely due to chemical pollution.