Researchers from the University of Colorado at Boulder will construct and deploy a number of low powered UV photometers to be placed on long duration stratospheric super pressure (constant volume) balloons to be launched during the joint US-French CONCORDIASI project (www.cnrm.meteo.fr/concordiasi/ ) to take place from McMurdo, Antarctica in 2009. The photometers will in turn be used to measure in situ ozone (O3) concentrations aloft, as the balloons drift in the Antarctic polar vortex. From the unique vantage point of this platform, the resulting near-Lagrangian ozone measurements, acquired at the onset of the austral spring (Sept-Nov), will allow detailed observation of the developing annual ozone depletion event. Balloon flight data will be compared with modeled predictions.
Discussion of the progress of the research, including progress towards reversal of seasonal ozone depletion events since adoption of the Montreal Protocol, will be coordinated with mid level and high school classroom activities at the Denver School of Science and Technology.
"This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)."
