He latest ozone depletion analysis shows that while the Antarctic ozone hole is substantial, it is a bit smaller compared to last year. The study, using a NASA satellite, found that the depletion covered 9.8 million square miles on September 15th. The record so far was a depletion of 10.5 million square feet on September 19th, 1998. The slight decrease unfortunately does not indicate a recovery. There is a great deal of year-to-year variation, which is dependent on weather conditions over the continent.