Analysis of Atmospheric Ozone Levels at Commercial Airplane Cruise Altitudes in Winter and Spring 1976-77

摘要

It has been speculated that the ozone sickness experienced by some airline passengers and crew members during the winter and spring of 1976-77 were induced by abnormally high concentrations of ambient atmospheric ozone. To investigate the possibility that 1976-77 was anomalous, ozone measurements from balloons for up to 13 years and from Global Atmospheric Sampling Program (GASP) equipped aircraft for 3 years have been studied. The analyses show that the winter and spring seasons of 1976-77 were averaged statistically, and no evidence was found to suggest that there was more than a usual variation in the frequency that commercial airplanes encountered high ambient ozone concentrations.