Data gleaned from satellite Metop revealed that the ozone hole over Antarctica was twice as big as Europe at its worst. This observation was made in late September. Scientists who analyzed data from the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment 2 (GOME-2) on board Metop said that some unusual meteorological conditions this year caused the extensive thinning of the ozone layer.

Europe's Metop is one of three identical weather and climate observer spacecrafts that will be flying in a polar orbit over the next few years to gather data. This is a joint project between Eumetsat and the European Space Agency (ESA).

Metop's newest observation - though significant and alarming - pales in comparison to last year's recorded size of the Arctic ozone hole. Last year's hole was said to have been twice the size of North America. Even with the Montreal Protocol which places an international ban on substances responsible for ozone depletion, scientists still find ozone thinning over different regions such as the South Atlantic, South America, and Australia. Because of these recent findings, almost 200 governments have agreed to speed up the timetable on phasing out chemicals that have negative effects on the ozone layer.