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Ozonesonde

 
The ozonesonde is a lightweight, balloon-borne instrument that is mated to a conventional meteorological radiosonde. As the balloon carrying the instrument package ascends through the atmosphere, the ozonesonde telemeters to a ground receiving station information on ozone and standard meteorological quantities such as pressure, temperature and humidity. The balloon will ascend to altitudes of about 115,000 feet (35 km) or about 4 hPa before it bursts. The heart of the ozonesonde is an electrochemical concentration cell (ECC) that senses ozone as is reacts with a dilute solution of potassium iodide to produce a weak electrical current proportional to the ozone concentration of the sampled air.
  An ozonesonde launch at the South Pole  
 


The CMDL network of eight ozonesonde sites makes weekly ozone vertical profile observations from the surface to about 35 km using electrochemical concentration cell (ECC) ozonesondes. Three of these sites, Boulder, Colorado, Hilo, Hawaii, and South Pole, Antarctica have records of at least 15 years in length covering a significant portion of the period that stratospheric ozone has been declining. There are about 50 locations around the world that make regular (approximately weekly) ozone vertical profile measurements using ozonesondes.

For additional information on the ECC ozonesonde as well as data from the CMDL sites visit the CMDL website.

 

 
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