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.