EU and US to collaborate in massive Arctic field study
Scientists from the European Union and the USA will combine their expertise to study ozone loss over the European Arctic, after the European Commission has revealed it will extend the Theseo campaign (third European stratospheric experiment in ozone) in winter 1999/2000. Theseo 2000, jointly funded by the EU and national agencies, will be a major part of the biggest field campaign yet to study chemical ozone loss over the Arctic. EU scientists will collaborate with their peers in the USA from the NASA-sponsored Solve campaign (SAGE III ozone loss and validation experiment). The Theseo-Solve campaign will involve more than 350 people from the EU, Canada, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Poland, Russia, Switzerland and the USA, who will measure ozone and other atmospheric gases using aircraft, long-duration balloons, satellites and ground-based instruments. The collaboration falls under the Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement between the EU and USA, which came into force in 1998. Theseo 2000 will address the large chemical ozone depletion in the Arctic stratosphere during the 1990s, which is raising concerns about the possibility of an Arctic ozone 'hole', and will also study long-term ozone decline over Europe, which is largest in winter. Concerns that ozone decline is detrimental to European citizens' health is increasing, following the results of modelling work which indicate that greenhouse gases might lead to larger future ozone losses in the Arctic than were previously expected. It is also taking longer for worldwide ozone levels to recover than scientists anticipated.