Elvia Thompson 
Headquarters, Washington                             October 
30, 2002
(Phone: 202/358-1696) 

Rob Gutro/Cynthia O'Carroll
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. 
(Phone: 301/286-4044 or 301/614-5563) 

RELEASE: 02-211 

NASA JOINS INTERNATIONAL OZONE STUDY IN ARCTIC

     NASA researchers will join more than 350 scientists 
from the United States, the European Union, Canada, Iceland, 
Japan, Norway, Poland, Russia and Switzerland this winter to 
measure ozone and other atmospheric gases using aircraft, 
large and small balloons, ground-based instruments and 
satellites. 

This second SAGE III Ozone Loss and Validation Experiment 
(SOLVE II) campaign will be conducted in close collaboration 
with the European Commission, sponsored by the VINTERSOL 
(Validation of International Satellites and Study of Ozone 
Loss) campaign. (SAGE III stands for the third Stratospheric 
Aerosol and Gas Experiment.) SOLVE will take place in 
Kiruna, Sweden, the site of the first international effort 
during the winter of 1999-2000. 

"The primary goals of the joint SOLVE II-VINTERSOL campaign 
are to further understanding of ozone loss processes in the 
Arctic, and verify that satellite observations of the ozone 
layer are accurate from space," said Michael Kurylo, SOLVE 
II co-Program Scientist at NASA Headquarters, Washington. 

Ozone studies are important because the ozone layer prevents 
the sun's harmful ultraviolet radiation from reaching the 
Earth's surface. Ultraviolet radiation is a primary cause of 
skin cancer. Without protective upper-level ozone, there 
would be no life on Earth.

The Arctic campaign will run from Jan. 8 through Feb. 6, 
2003. Flights of large balloons will augment the aircraft 
campaign, extending the measurement period from late 
November 2002 to late March 2003. 

During the campaign of 1999-2000, record ozone losses of 70 
percent were observed at altitudes around 18 kilometers (11 
miles) and a great deal was learned about the processes 
leading to the rapid ozone loss in the Arctic. The SOLVE II 
campaign will add to that body of knowledge. 

During the coming winter, scientists in SOLVE II-VINTERSOL 
also will work toward ensuring the accuracy of measurements 
from current Earth observing satellites. Scientists will 
take measurements of the stratosphere using a large suite of 
instruments aboard NASA's DC-8 aircraft and the European 
high-flying aircraft M55 Geo-physica, the German DLR Falcon. 
An instrument from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 
Pasadena, Calif., will also fly on the M55 Geophysica. These 
planes will be based in Kiruna. 

Research balloons, carrying payloads weighing up to several 
hundred pounds will be launched from Kiruna by teams from 
the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (France's National 
Center for Space Studies) and NASA. A network of over 30 
stations of ground-based instruments will take atmospheric 
readings over a wide area, which will show how the chemical 
composition of Arctic stratosphere evolves through the whole 
winter. 

VINTERSOL is a pan-European campaign involving researchers 
supported by the European Commission and national research 
agencies. NASA's SAGE III satellite instrument is being used 
to quantitatively assess ozone loss in the higher latitudes. 
SAGE III was launched onboard a Russian Meteor-3M spacecraft 
on December 10, 2001. The validation of the SAGE III 
observations is a principal goal of SOLVE II. 

SOLVE II is sponsored by NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, 
dedicated to better understanding and protecting our home 
planet.

For more information and images see:
http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/20020930solve.html
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/stories/solve/

For information about the SOLVE 2 Mission see:
http://cloud1.arc.nasa.gov/solveII/index.html

For information about SAGE III see:
http://www-sage3.larc.nasa.gov/

For information about the VINTERSOL program see:
http://www.ozone-sec.ch.cam.ac.uk

-end-
NOTE TO EDITORS:
The SOLVE campaign will hold a media week beginning Monday, 
Jan. 27, 2003. During that week, members of the media may 
schedule appointments for interviews with specific 
researchers. Also, a "Media Day" open house will be held at 
the Arena Arctica Hangar on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2003. 
Researchers will be available throughout Media Day to answer 
questions and provide tours of the hangar and operations. 

All media visiting Arena Arctica must coordinate their visit 
during media week or the open house with NASA Public Affairs 
and Kiruna Airport Security. More information on media week 
is available at:
http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/20020930solveinfo.html

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