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VA3SED > NASA 29.05.00 16:25l 89 Lines 3567 Bytes #-8936 (0) @ AMSAT
BID : 30095_VA3SED
Read: GUEST
Subj: OZONE-DESTROYING ARCTIC CLOUDS
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Sent: 000526/1117Z @:VA3SED.#SWON.ON.CAN.NA #:30095 [Baden] FBB7.00g
From: VA3SED@VA3SED.#SWON.ON.CAN.NA
To : NASA@CANADA
John Bluck May
24, 2000
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
650/604-5026 or 650/604-9000, jbluck@mail.arc.nasa.gov
Harvey Leifert (contact until May 26 and for media registration)
American Geophysical Union (AGU), Washington, DC
202/777-7507, hleifert@agu.org
AGU Press Room (contact from May 30 on and for media registration)
Washington Convention Center, 900 9th St. NW
Washington, DC
202/371-5087, fax 202/371-5093, hleifert@agu.org
NOTE TO EDITORS: 00-40AR
OZONE-DESTROYING ARCTIC CLOUDS SUBJECT OF AGU NEWS BRIEFING ON MAY 30
The culprits in the major ozone loss in the Arctic stratosphere
earlier this year were unusually long-lasting polar clouds made of nitric
acid crystals, according to preliminary results from an international field
experiment.
The new evidence also confirms scientists' suspicions that an
ozone-destroying chemical process not thought to be active over the
northern pole is occurring, which could foreshadow greater ozone losses in
the future. This research on the ozone-destroying role of polar
stratospheric clouds (PSCs) will be presented next week at the American
Geophysical Union's Spring Meeting in Washington, D.C. A news briefing is
scheduled for Tuesday, May 30, at 12:15 p.m. EDT in the Washington
Convention Center. Three thousand earth scientists are expected at this
year's meeting.
"Even the very small numbers of particles observed in PSCs during our
experiment can efficiently remove nitrogen from the stratosphere," said
Eric Jensen, a scientist from NASA's Ames Research Center, located in
California's Silicon Valley, who will be one of the briefing panelists.
"We found that the clouds lasted longer during the 1999/2000 winter than
during past winters, allowing greater ozone depletion over the Arctic."
Scientists involved in a recent NASA/European Commission field
experiment in Sweden will discuss their preliminary results at the
briefing. Topics include the formation of PSCs by waves in the atmosphere
created by mountain ranges, and indications that "denitrification" may now
be taking place over the Arctic, a process that can delay the natural
shut-off of ozone-destruction as spring arrives.
The new observations were collected by aircraft, balloons, and
satellites during the joint SAGE III Ozone Loss and Validation Experiment
(SOLVE) and the European Stratospheric Experiment in Ozone (THESEO),
conducted between December 1999 and March 2000.
More information about the NASA-sponsored SOLVE campaign and the
European Commission-sponsored THESEO 2000 experiment (including a list of
participating institutions) is on the Internet at:
http://cloud1.arc.nasa.gov/solve/index.html
(THESEO 2000) -- http://www.ozone-sec.ch.cam.ac.uk
http://george.arc.nasa.gov/dx/basket/factsheets/FS991103.html
In addition to Jensen, participants in the AGU news briefing include:
Edward V. Browell, NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA; Ken Carslaw,
University of Leeds, United Kingdom; Michael J. Kurylo, NASA's Upper
Atmosphere Research Program, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC; and Brian
Toon, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO.
Video and new data animations will be distributed at the AGU news
briefing. Color photographs of polar stratospheric clouds from the recent
field experiment are available on the Internet at:
http://george.arc.nasa.gov/dx/basket/pix/pscpix/PSCcloudcaps/PSCpix.html
-end-
73, de Tedd
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