Staff take turns staying up all night to tend heaters and instruments. From Churchill, the team sometimes flies another 1,400 miles to Thule, Greenland, and then on to Alert. Sometimes I wonder how we got into this. But the scientific questions are so important that it's worth the hardship. Meanwhile, in the stratosphere above, the returning springtime sun triggers chemical reactions that deplete ozone, creating a smaller, northern version of the Antarctic ozone hole.
Scientists suspect that some ozone sinks from the stratosphere into the troposphere.
As springtime weather changes circulation patterns, ozone and ozone-producing compounds travel into the far north from the polluted regions of northern and central Europe. Scientists believe measurements of 20 or so chemical species throughout the troposphere will provide answers. Already they have found surprises in the levels of some important compounds. To complicate matters further, at ground level scientists have found ozone-empty bands about 30 miles across. To explore these areas, the C-130 coasts 100 feet above Hudson and Baffin Bays and the Arctic Ocean, sampling chemistry occurring over the ice and open leads.