WEBVTT FILE 1 00:00:00.010 --> 00:00:04.060 Two days ago we left New Zealand, Christchurch, and flew 2 00:00:04.060 --> 00:00:08.070 across the dateline to Punta Arenas, Chile, where we are 3 00:00:08.070 --> 00:00:12.080 It's wintertime in the Southern Hemisphere, so our 4 00:00:12.080 --> 00:00:16.090 lovely weather from Kona and America Samoa is no more, 5 00:00:16.090 --> 00:00:20.280 but it is much fresher down here as you can tell. We are very 6 00:00:20.280 --> 00:00:24.480 close to the Magellan Straights right now, and it does feel like we're 7 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:28.480 exploring through atmosphere that hasn't been sampled ever in some 8 00:00:28.480 --> 00:00:32.490 cases or for many many years in others. During our flight we went 9 00:00:32.490 --> 00:00:36.490 from 500 feet over the ocean all the way up to about 10 00:00:36.490 --> 00:00:40.690 40.000 feet. And in that we could see sea ice. down at the bottom. 11 00:00:40.690 --> 00:00:44.870 all the way up to the polar vortex at the very top. 12 00:00:44.870 --> 00:00:48.880 Temperatures that went to minus 70 degrees Celcius. Outside the aircraft 13 00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:52.960 it was extremely cold. That meant that we were sampling in the stratosphere, 14 00:00:52.960 --> 00:00:56.960 so we saw a lot of high ozone levels, but not as high as they possibly could 15 00:00:56.960 --> 00:01:00.970 have been. And we were very close to the ozone hole, which 16 00:01:00.970 --> 00:01:04.970 will start to probably peak in about September. The ozone 17 00:01:04.970 --> 00:01:08.980 hole is formed when you get a lot of CFCs, so chlorofluorocarbons. 18 00:01:08.980 --> 00:01:13.160 These were species that were banned nearly 30 years ago as part 19 00:01:13.160 --> 00:01:17.170 of the Montreal Protocol, but they're still in the atmosphere because they have a very 20 00:01:17.170 --> 00:01:21.190 long lifetime. So it's going to be about 50 years before the CFCs 21 00:01:21.190 --> 00:01:25.210 disappear from the atmosphere completely. 22 00:01:25.210 --> 00:01:29.400 I'm here on Green Mountain on Ascension Island, 23 00:01:29.400 --> 00:01:33.410 which is right in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Green Island is formed 24 00:01:33.410 --> 00:01:37.500 by tectonic processes. The Atlantic ocean is 25 00:01:37.500 --> 00:01:41.690 spreading and there's a ridge down the middle which represents 26 00:01:41.690 --> 00:01:45.690 the spreading center, where magma is coming up to the surface 27 00:01:45.690 --> 00:01:49.700 and then flowing under the ocean, becoming the new ocean floor. It's about 3000 28 00:01:49.700 --> 00:01:53.700 kilometers from the nearest land. However, 29 00:01:53.700 --> 00:01:57.890 when we came into the vicinity of the island, let's say 30 00:01:57.890 --> 00:02:01.900 200 miles to the south. we began 31 00:02:01.900 --> 00:02:05.910 to encounter a lot of smoke and pollution. The Atom project 32 00:02:05.910 --> 00:02:09.980 is designed to understand how pollutants enter the 33 00:02:09.980 --> 00:02:13.980 remote part of the global atmosphere. I have to say we were 34 00:02:13.980 --> 00:02:17.990 totally unprepared for how thick the smoke was and how high 35 00:02:17.990 --> 00:02:21.990 the pollution concentrations were. This smoke and pollution 36 00:02:21.990 --> 00:02:26.000 originates in southern Africa where 37 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:30.000 people set fires for a variety of reasons -- for agriculture, for 38 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:34.010 range improvement. But we did have a computer model that we used 39 00:02:34.010 --> 00:02:38.080 when we were planning the mission, and the model predicted that this stuff 40 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:42.080 would have been here, so maybe I shouldn't have been surprised. Although I have to say that 41 00:02:42.080 --> 00:02:46.090 the model put the pollution in the right place 42 00:02:46.090 --> 00:02:50.270 but maybe not the right amount. Maybe we saw two to three times as much than had 43 00:02:50.270 --> 00:02:50.837 been forecast.