Largest ozone hole - TODAY 8 YEARS BEFORE

In 2006, NASA recorded the largest ozone hole in the atmosphere to date. From 21-30 Sep the average area was 10.6 million square miles, as measured by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument on NASA's Aura satellite.

At the worst point, a record low of 1.2 Dobson Units compared to a 125 DU non-hole reading. For the past several decades, each year during the Southern Hemisphere Spring (Northern Hemisphere Autumn) chemical reactions due to chlorine and bromine man-made compounds in the atmosphere cause the destruction of ozone in the stratosphere over the southern polar region.

This is a concern because this ozone, a very active triatomic form of oxygen (O₃), absorbs the harmful ultraviolet-B rays (UV-B) present in light from the sun that damages plant and animal tissues, including humans.