The ozone hole over Antarctica shrank to its smallest peak since 1988, NASA said Thursday. The huge hole in Earth's protective ozone layer reached its maximum this year in September, and this year NASA said it was 19.6 million square kilometres (7.6 million square miles) wide. He said scientists haven't quite figured out why some years are stormier — and have smaller ozone holes — than others. At its peak on Sept. 11, 2017, the ozone hole extended across an area nearly two and a half times the size of the continental United States. The ozone hole hit its highest in 2000 at 29.86 million square kilometres (11.5 million square miles).

Source: CBC News November 03, 2017 13:07 UTC