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Friday, 8 September, 2000, 11:30 GMT 12:30 UK
Ozone hole largest yet
![]() The ozone layer protects Earth from harmful radiation
The hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica has grown to its greatest size yet, the US space agency says.
That is three times the size of the United States. The previous record was 27.2 million square kilometres (10.5 million square miles), two years ago. Scientists who have been studying the ozone layer since the early 1970s were shocked by the hole's size.
The ozone layer protects our planet from harmful ultraviolet radiation and ozone depletion is believed to contribute to high rates of skin cancer in countries like Australia. It was hoped that the Montreal Protocol in 1987, which restricted the release of man-made pollutants such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) would lead to a recovery of the ozone layer by 2050. Chief culprit But recent investigations suggest the problem may be on a much larger scale than previously thought.
The chief culprit in ozone depletion is a family of man-made gases, notably CFCs, which were widely used in aerosols and refrigeration. Others, like halons, are used in fire extinguishers, while methyl bromide is a soil fumigant. The ozone hole is now closely monitored by satellites and ground-based instruments after it was first spotted by British Antarctic scientists in the 1970s.
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