{"id":70,"date":"2016-09-21T22:15:15","date_gmt":"2016-09-21T22:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/southpoleozone2016\/?p=70"},"modified":"2016-09-21T22:16:20","modified_gmt":"2016-09-21T22:16:20","slug":"current-2016-ozone-hole-progress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/southpoleozone\/2016\/09\/21\/current-2016-ozone-hole-progress\/","title":{"rendered":"Current 2016 Ozone Hole Progress"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Flight

A composite photograph of flight SP808 launching in to the pre-dawn sky at the South Pole. \u00a0Photo credit: Christian Krueger<\/p><\/div>\n

With sunrise now only a few days away,\u00a0NOAA scientists at the South Pole<\/a> continue to launch balloons high in to the stratosphere to measure the quickly depleting ozone layer overhead. \u00a0Free chlorine activated by the long-absent sunlight high in the stratosphere is currently destroying large swaths of protective ozone. \u00a0 The instrument on this balloon contains a small chemical sensor called an ozonesonde<\/a> that measures the remaining ozone concentrations and transmits the data back to a ground station. \u00a0The above photograph is a multi-image composite of the large, helium-filled balloon launched out of the South Pole’s Balloon Inflation Facility.<\/p>\n

\"sp808_2016_09_18-blue-box\"<\/p>\n

Comparing the September 18th flight plotted in red to the July\/August average in blue, the vast amount of ozone destruction already seen is quite significant. \u00a0In the left plot, the red line representing current ozone levels will continue to move left toward zero while in the right profile, temperatures will begin to increase\u00a0with the return of sunlight. \u00a0Throughout the darkness of winter, stratospheric temperatures were\u00a0able to drop below\u00a0-78\u00b0 Celsius (blue box) where rare Polar Stratospheric Clouds (PSCs)<\/a> form. \u00a0One way these rare ice crystals promote\u00a0extreme\u00a0ozone destruction is\u00a0with\u00a0their ability to\u00a0lock up Nitric Acid (HNO3<\/sub>), an important molecule in the deactivation of chlorine. \u00a0When these ice crystals grow large enough they settle out of the lower stratosphere, a process called denitrification<\/a>,\u00a0removing themselves\u00a0from the destruction zone. \u00a0Only when temperatures warm and PSC crystals melt, will these chemicals begin to return to the stratosphere and deactivate the destructive free chlorine!<\/p>\n