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Automated Airborne Measurement of Ozone
Not Available Ozone is arguably the most important trace gas in the atmosphere, and improved monitoring of ozone
throughout the atmosphere is essential. This Phase 2 project continues the development of a complete,
automated system for measuring ozone from on board commercial aircraft. There is already one program
within NOAA, CAAMP (Commercial Aircraft Atmospheric Measurement Program), for measuring a variety of
trace gases in this manner. Since the logistics and cost to install commercially available ozone
instruments and data recorders on a large number of commercial aircraft would be prohibitive, it is
imperative to develop a compact, self-contained system specifically designed for these measurements.
The ozone analyzer is based on a compact UV-absorption design originated at the University of Colorado
for use on meteorological balloons. In Phase 1, this design was modified for use in a pressurized aircraft,
and ADA-designed electronics were added. In Phase 2, the design will be refined, including packaging for
mounting in standard avionics racks and adding interfaces to communicate with aircraft systems. The
Phase 2 instrument will receive various parameters (location, altitude, time) from data bus, as well as
communicate ozone data onto the data bus, enabling a variety of data recording or real-time reporting
options.
* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *