Radiometer Sonde Soundings at Amundsen-Scott Stations, Antarctica

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Recent data on the stratospheric "ozone hole" over the Antarctic suggests that a combination of dynamical and chemical processes are responsible for the dramatic ozone decreases which takes place during the austral spring. While the processes are complex and intertwined the recent field results obtained from the National Ozone Expeditions in 1986 and 1987 and the 1987 Airborne Antarctic Ozone campaign does suggest that both meteorological and chemical factors contribute to the unique ozone distributions over Antarctica. To date the campaigns designed to study this phenomenon have concentrated primarily on investigating the chemical environment over the Antarctic continent and very little information is available about stratospheric dynamics. This experimental project is designed to make radiometer sonde soundings at Amundsen-Scott Stations, Antarctica to pressure levels of 20 millibars at six day intervals starting 1 July 1988. The radiometer sonde will measure the upward, downward, and net long wave radiation in the atmosphere as a function of pressure. The long wave radiation differences between the pressure levels will be the long wave radiation divergence. The long wave radiation divergence can be converted to layer cooling rates. The layer cooling rates will help in answering question about the dynamics of the winter times stratosphere over Antarctic. The radiometer sonde will detect the presence of possible cirrus clouds in the stratosphere. This experiment is a preliminary study to see if the information collected is of use in understanding the causes and evolution of the "ozone hole" over the Antarctic continent during the austral spring.