2000年9月，南极臭氧层空洞覆盖的面积达1150万平方英里（2977万平方公里），创历史最高纪录。2003年的南极臭氧层空洞覆盖的面积达1090万平方英里（2822万平方公里），仅低于2000年的纪录，为历史第二高。2006南极臭氧层空洞面积达到了2745万平方公里，几乎相当于整个亚洲面积（包括岛屿）的2/3。由于臭氧层的继续损耗，不仅将会限制人类文明的继续发展，而且将会威胁到人类的生存。臭氧损耗的相关研究一直是大气化学家研究的热点。 

       最近，一篇ClOOCl在紫外区的吸收文章（J. Phys. Chem. A 2007, 111, 4322-4332.）却引起了大气化学家的广泛关注。Nature（449, 382-383, 27 September 2007）以“Chemists poke holes in ozone theory”标题报道了这个消息。2007年12月21日Science以Perspectives-“Revisiting Ozone Depletion”评价了这篇发表在JPC上的文章。 



       过氧化氯分子（ClOOCl）在大气臭氧层的损耗中起着关键的作用。当其吸收近紫外光后就会光解产生破坏臭氧的Cl自由基。因为ClOOCl的光解是极地臭氧损耗的速控步骤，最近的研究显示ClOOCl在紫外区，特别是在波长大于300nm的区域，它的吸收要比以前人们普遍认可的要小一个数量级左右。用这个数据得到的臭氧损耗的速率要比NASA推荐的小6倍。新的实验数据暗示了在臭氧空洞形成这个问题上还有我们不知道的机理存在。

 
下面是一些大气科学家以及臭氧研究者的反应：

If the data are right, scientists will have to rethink their understanding of how ozone holes are formed and how that relates to climate change.

So Markus Rex, an atmosphere scientist at the Alfred Wegener Institute of Polar and Marine Research in Potsdam, Germany, Rex says. “If the measurements are correct we can basically no longer say we understand how ozone holes come into being.” What effect the results have on projections of the speed or extent of ozone depletion remains unclear.

If the rate is substantially lower than previously thought, then it would not be possible to create enough aggressive chlorine radicals to explain the observed ozone losses at high latitudes, says Rex. The extent of the discrepancy became apparent only when he incorporated the new photolysis rate into a chemical model of ozone depletion. The result was a shock: at least 60% of ozone destruction at the poles seems to be due to an unknown mechanism, Rex told a meeting of stratosphere researchers in Bremen.

“Our understanding of chloride chemistry has really been blown apart,” says John Crowley, an ozone researcher at the Max Planck Institute of Chemistry in Mainz, Germany.

“Until recently everything looked like it fitted nicely,” agrees Neil Harris, an atmosphere scientist who heads the European Ozone Research Coordinating Unit at the University of Cambridge, UK. “Now suddenly it’s like a plank has been pulled out of a bridge.”