Prince Ozone

Is there a hole in the Ozone layer??

Now you might think I'm kinda dumb should I say because of where I got this from, but I was watching the Fresh Prince of Belair I think yeserday and when will pulled out his father's old sweather, it was big and he said "well, why don't we just throw this up in sky and cover the hole in the ozone layer" or something like that. So is there really a hole in the Ozone layer?? If so why is it there or how did it get there and where is it if it's at a certain spot??

Holes in the ozone layer aren't regions with no ozone, rather they are areas of marked ozone depletion, particularly in the lower stratosphere. If you think of the ozone layer asa thick blanket, it is the lower part of this blanket that is depleted. The ozone hole occurs at the poles (although the ozone layer has suffered some depletion throughout the atmosphere), and is more pronounced because of a number of factors that amplify the global ozone depletion cycle. Globally, the main cause of ozone depletion is the presence of manmade free radical catalysts, of which CFC's are the most commonly known. In the presnce of UV light, these catalysts break down and "attack" ozone, destroying it. The ozone layer at the poles is most vulnerable because of the lower atmospheric temperatures, prolonged UV exposure (polar summers) and the "polar vortex" which is a circulating weather pattern that serves to "contain" the atmosphere at the poles. These conditions combine to deplete the ozone at a greater rate during spring.