GENEVA - The hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica has already surpassed its 2007 size this year, and is set to keep growing for another few weeks, the UN weather agency said on Tuesday.

The Antarctic ozone hole appears every year and normally stretches to about the size of North America, reaching its maximum size in late September or early October.
But in 2008, the World Meteorological Organisation said the protective layer, which shields the Earth from ultra-violet rays that can cause skin cancer, began to thin relatively late.