TOPSE

The TOPSE investigation consisted of a series of 7 round trip missions from Colorado to northern latitudes, using the NCAR C-130 flying laboratory. The TOPSE experiment covered a latitude range from 40 N to near the North Pole, and from 100 ft to 25,000 ft. in altitude. The experimental design used in-situ and remote sensing observations to evaluate the rapid onset and early stages of active photochemistry in the Northern Hemisphere. These observations were combined with model studies to investigate the chemical and dynamic evolution of tropospheric chemical composition over mid- to high-latitude continental North America during the winter/spring transition. A particular emphasis was placed on the springtime ozone maximum in the troposphere. As the experiment progressed additional effort was used to investigate dramatic ozone depletion events found over large regions of the Arctic surface layer.