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The Airborne Southern Hemisphere Ozone Experiment (ASHOE) is designed to examine the causes of ozone loss in the Southern Hemisphere lower stratosphere and to investigate how the loss is related to polar, mid-latitude, and tropical processes. ASHOE will be conducted in concert with the campaign, Measurements for Assessing the Effects of Stratospheric Aircraft (MAESA), whose focus is to provide information about stratospheric photochemistry and transport forassessing the potential environmental effects of stratospheric aircraft. These combined objectives will be met by a series of flights of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) ER-2 high-altitude research aircraft from Christchurch, New Zealand, and on transit flights from Moffett Field, California, to Christchurch via Hawaii and Fiji. Flights of the remotely piloted vehicle Perseus, or possibly balloons, to higher altitudes in the tropics and mid-latitudes will also be made. There are several compelling reasons to study processes relating to ozone depletion in the Southern Hemisphere and tropical lower stratosphere:
ASHOE/MAESA will take place in four phases through the Antarctic winter of 1994: late March to early April, late May to early June, late July to early August, and October. The ER-2 component will be conducted in a manner similar to the highly successful polar ozone experiments from Punta Arenas, Chile, in August/September 1987; Stavanger, Norway, in January/February 1989; Fairbanks, Alaska, in October, 1991; and Bangor, Maine, from November 1991 through March 1992. Christchurch has been chosen as a site because of its comparatively benign surface wind conditions and its location, which should permit ER-2 observations both inside and outside the Antarctic vortex. The Perseus and/or balloon measurements will extend the altitude range of analysis in the tropical and northern mid-latitudes.
ASHOE/MAESA is an international effort with participants from nine countries. It involves scientists from a wide range of organizations, including: several NASA Centers, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Center for Atmospheric Research (sponsored by the National Science Foundation), many universities, private research companies, the New Zealand National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, the United Kingdom Meteorological Office, the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting, and the Cooperative Research Center for Southern Hemisphere Meteorology (Australia).