1 00:00:00,010 --> 00:00:04,030 Narrator: The Ozone Mapper Profiler Suite 2 00:00:04,050 --> 00:00:08,140 or the OMPS instrument 3 00:00:08,160 --> 00:00:12,190 This instrument will fly on NASA’s NPP satellite 4 00:00:12,210 --> 00:00:16,220 and it is a key component to measuring the health of the stratospheric 5 00:00:16,240 --> 00:00:20,250 ozone layer. Scott: “In the stratosphere the ozone is very important to 6 00:00:20,270 --> 00:00:24,270 block ultra violet radiation from the sun protecting 7 00:00:24,290 --> 00:00:28,280 humans on Earth. Narrator: Ozone depletion is mainly caused 8 00:00:28,300 --> 00:00:32,290 by chlorine from human-produced substances called chlorofluorocarbons 9 00:00:32,310 --> 00:00:36,300 or CFCs. Back in the 70s, 10 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:40,320 scientists predicted that if CFCs continued to increase, 11 00:00:40,340 --> 00:00:44,370 they would eventually destroy the Earth’s ozone layer. 12 00:00:44,390 --> 00:00:48,400 Paul Newman: So, the Montreal Protocol controls the production 13 00:00:48,420 --> 00:00:52,420 and emissions of these ozone-destroying gases 14 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:56,440 and because of that most of these gases are no longer 15 00:00:56,460 --> 00:01:00,460 produced and they are slowly beginning to decline in our 16 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:04,480 atmosphere. Narrator: A critical factor in measuring 17 00:01:04,500 --> 00:01:08,480 the success of these regulations, as well as to be able to predict future fluctuations 18 00:01:08,500 --> 00:01:12,540 in ozone levels, is the ability to collect long-term data 19 00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:16,660 from space. Built with precision 20 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:20,690 and tested by a highly skilled team, the OMPS instrument 21 00:01:20,710 --> 00:01:24,730 comes along on NPP as the next generation ozone instrument. 22 00:01:24,750 --> 00:01:28,760 Paul Newman: The Ozone Mapper Profiler Suite is an 23 00:01:28,780 --> 00:01:32,790 instrument that continues a series that began 24 00:01:36,830 --> 00:01:32,820 back in the 1970s. We now have about 25 00:01:36,850 --> 00:01:40,840 40 years of measurements of total ozone 26 00:01:40,860 --> 00:01:44,840 around the globe.So, this is a key instrument to maintaining that 27 00:01:44,860 --> 00:01:48,870 record to follow how ozone is changing in our environment. 28 00:01:48,890 --> 00:01:52,910 Narrator: OMPS looks at the edge of the 29 00:01:52,930 --> 00:01:56,960 atmosphere and builds a profile of data that helps scientists see the vertical 30 00:01:56,980 --> 00:02:00,990 distribution of ozone and where it is in danger of 31 00:02:01,010 --> 00:02:05,100 depletion. Paul Newman: So that’s a big improvement over 32 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:09,120 the old mapping instruments that just mapped out the total amount of 33 00:02:09,140 --> 00:02:13,140 ozone between space and the surface. Scott: So the data you get back can 34 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:17,160 produce maps to show you how much ozone is there 35 00:02:17,180 --> 00:02:21,170 and how it varies by altitude and that’s very important for 36 00:02:21,190 --> 00:02:25,220 understanding both how ozone is distributed and how it’s changing over time. 37 00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:29,270 Narrator: As NPP orbits the Earth over the poles 38 00:02:29,290 --> 00:02:33,310 once every 100 minutes, 14 times a day; the 39 00:02:33,330 --> 00:02:37,350 OMPS instrument delivers its data as millions of ones and zeros to a 40 00:02:37,370 --> 00:02:41,370 ground station located near the North Pole in Svalbard, Norway. 41 00:02:41,390 --> 00:02:45,400 Joan: The ground station then delivers this in a manner 42 00:02:45,420 --> 00:02:49,420 that is then delivered to scientists and then they take that data 43 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:53,430 and can map the UV globally. 44 00:02:53,450 --> 00:02:57,440 Paul Newman: So, total ozone data can be immediately used 45 00:02:57,460 --> 00:03:01,490 to compute for example UV index. In long term 46 00:03:01,510 --> 00:03:05,540 though we’re going to be looking at the data to determine, 47 00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:09,570 is the Earth’s ozone layer rebounding form the lower 48 00:03:09,590 --> 00:03:13,590 points we saw in the 1990’s, that’s the long term 49 00:03:13,610 --> 00:03:17,620 science result that we’d like to see. 50 00:03:17,640 --> 00:03:21,640 Music.