Middle School

Students will look at ozone data collected by NOAA at the South Pole with ozonesondes. Students will use ozone data to determine where the ozone layer is in the atmosphere.

One mission of NOAA’s Global Monitoring Laboratory is to monitor the amount of ozone in the stratosphere. Every year in October there is a dramatic decrease of ozone over the South Pole. This is called the Ozone Hole. Today you will look at ozone data from a Dobson Ozone Spectrometer. NOAA has Dobson instruments at many locations around the world. You will be looking at data from the Dobson located at the South Pole.

Students will look at carbon dioxide data from NOAA’s observatory on the top of Mauna Loa, Hawaii.

How has the climate changed in your state? Has the average temperature increased or decreased? How about record highs or record lows? Does your state receive more or less precipitation than 50 years ago? 100 years ago?