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AIRS Ozone Burden During Antarctic Winter
AIRS provides a daily global 3-dimensional view of Earth's ozone layer.
Since AIRS observes in the thermal infrared spectral range, it also allows
scientists to view from space the Antarctic ozone hole for the first time
continuously during polar winter. This image sequence captures the
intensification of the annual ozone hole in the Antarctic Polar Vortex.
The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder Experiment, with its visible, infrared,
and microwave detectors, provides a three-dimensional look at Earth's
weather. Working in tandem, the three instruments can make simultaneous
observations all the way down to the Earth's surface, even in the presence
of heavy clouds. With more than 2,000 channels sensing different regions
of the atmosphere, the system creates a global, 3-D map of atmospheric
temperature and humidity and provides information on clouds, greenhouse
gases, and many other atmospheric phenomena. The AIRS Infrared Sounder
Experiment flies onboard NASA's Aqua spacecraft and is managed by NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., under contract to NASA. JPL
is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
