Ozone Hole Shrinks Record Low in 10 Years [PHOTO]

The ozone layer over Antarctica is recovering as new satellite images reveal the hole to be smallest it's been in the past decade.

The European Space Agency (ESA) suggested that international efforts to lower human-made chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) have been effective.

The ozone layer known to prevent ultraviolet light from reaching Earth's surface as high exposure of UV light cause sunburn and skin cancer.

Ozone decrease is more extreme in Antarctica than the North Pole due to fast-rotating vortex of cold air that leads to extremely low temperatures. Such circumstances CFCs have a strong effect on the ozone, depleting it and creating the infamous hole.

CFCs endure in the atmosphere for a long time and so may take until the middle of the century for the ozone concentrations to rebound to the 1960s levels, the ESA said.