Susan Solomon, an atmospheric chemist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Boulder, Colo., has been presented with the American Meteorological Society's Henry G. Houghton Award for her research into ozone deterioration. Solomon received the award at the society's annual meeting in New Orleans last month. She was cited for "outstanding theoretical and observational research on atmospheric constituent structure and for significant contributions to understanding the Antarctic ozone hole."
Solomon first went to the Antarctic in 1986 as head project scientist with the United States National Ozone Expedition. This was the first expedition, according to Solomon, aimed at measuring not just the ozone, but also the factors affecting it. The team found that the chemistry of the Antarctic stratosphere was "incredibly perturbed," she says. "We didn't expect it to look like another planet." According to Solomon, three-quarters of the chlorine in the atmosphere is anthropogenic, and the extreme...
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