By Patrick Cullis, NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory scientist
September 18, 2024
GML staff at the South Pole Observatory collected this ozone profile on September 15–and we are entering the primary depletion period!
The ozonesonde measurement looks right on track with the majority of the profile sitting on top of the median outside of a small enhancement at 16km. The temperatures also remain cold, though maybe some small signs of warming at the very top of the profile? It will be really interesting to see how the vortex progresses and whether it can hold together this year!
For reference, here is the annual climatology cycle from the South Pole:
The typical launch pace right now is every ~3 days leading up to the annual flight on October 1 and then every-other-day when trying to capture a typical minimum.
