I and II gave the United States its first global weather satellite system. Seasat demonstrated techniques for global monitoring of the Earth's oceans. Data from the TOMS were part of the scientific basis for the Montreal Protocol and other treaties banning the manufacture and use of ozone-depleting chemicals. TOMS image of antarctic ozone, October, 1985.
White areas are high ozone levels, black areas represent low ozone.
UARS data are used to create global maps of ozone-destroying chemicals and to understand the processes related to ozone depletion better. By 1994, UARS' comprehensive data set provided conclusive evidence that human-made chemicals are responsible for the annual Antarctic ozone depletion. The mission carried fourteen experiments to study the chemistry of the Earth's upper atmosphere and the Sun's energy, and the effect of those two elements on ozone levels. The Space Radar Laboratory, which flew on two shuttle missions, demonstrated the uses of a complex radar to study the Earth's surface, with applications in ecology, geology, water-cycle studies, and other areas. Related research released in 1996 shed new light on the Great Wall of China and the geological history of the Nile River.