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Impact On Question 2: The key criteria for a measurement strategy is to diagnose threshold conditions (i.e., during polar night). The unmanned aircraft provides this capability for the first time. A critical advantage of the unmanned aircraft in addition to altitude, frequency of coverage, accessibility to polar night conditions, etc., is its ability to control its own trajectory based on real-time observations. For example, the detection of PSC regions provides the input for a guidance algorithm to redirect the aircraft trajectory back through the region of greatest interest. [[image]] [[image]] The existence of highly perturbed regions imbedded in the atmosphere, whether they be PSCs, vortex edges, or regions of highly perturbed free radical concentrations, requires a level of "onboard" intelligence capable of optimizing the trajectory. This approach heightens the ability of unmanned aircraft to address mechanistic issues in a manner unavailable to conventional aircraft. [[image]] Given (1) that PSC formation and the impact of PSCs on gas phase chemistry constitutes a possible initiation step leading to dramatically amplified halogen free radical concentrations, and thereby defines the probability for large ozone loss rates in future years, and (2) these processes occur in the depths of polar night for relatively brief periods at high altitudes over dangerous regions of the globe, the unmanned aircraft presents truly unique opportunities for observations. A specific example involves the adiabatically driven PSC formation regions over the Northern Scandinavian Peninsula. There is a critical need to map the kinetics of chlorine repartitioning by such events.
