Effects of Total Solar Eclipse on Stratospheric Ozone Production

During the total solar eclipse on August 21st, 2017, the North Dakota Atmospheric Education Student Initiated Research (ND-AESIR) team launched a high altitude balloon in Rexburg, Idaho. An ozone sensor developed and fabricated by the University of North Florida (UNF) was launched to test the effect of a solar eclipse on ozone production. This sensor has been developed and tested for the past 10 years as part of a NASA HASP (High Altitude Student Platform) team collaboration between UNF and the University of North Dakota. It contains eight nanocrystalline oxide semiconductor film arrays that take simultaneous measurements of ozone concentrations. Measurements are sent to a battery operated electronic data logger. It was hypothesized that ozone production would drop during the eclipse, since ozone in the stratosphere is generated in the presence of UV light coming from the Sun. The balloon launched after the eclipse had began, and climbed during totality. It was observed that ozone concentration decreased during the entirety of the flight, with a sharp dip in production during the time of totality. This supports the hypothesis that reduction in UV light from the Sun leads to a reduction in ozone production. Observed results were similar to decreases in ozone concentration measured during night HASP flights. Further studies are required at higher and more steady altitude balloon flights to better collect ozone production profiles during solar eclipses, hopefully to be conducted during future eclipses