Antarctic ozone hole reaches record size

The hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica this year has surpassed the record size registered in 2000, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Tuesday.  The Geneva-based agency said that data from the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) showed that the ozone hole had grown to 29.5 million square kilometers.

    "This is the most serious on record," said Mark Oliver, spokesman for the WMO.

    "It has been caused by a particularly cold stratospheric winter, between 10 and 40 km above sea level," he told journalists.
    The new size of the ozone hole was recorded by NASA on Sept. 25,he said. The previous record of 29.4 million square kilometers was set in September 200