Monitoring ozone since 1958

Arrival Heights, located northwest of Scott Base, is an Antarctic Specially Protected Area. The location is a natural and electromagnetically quiet site – making it ideal for upper atmospheric research. New Zealand began collecting data there in 1958.

The lab has a variety of sensitive instruments, including a Dobson ozone spectrophotometer that was built in 1937! When first built, it was fully mechanical, but it’s been upgraded to some extent. Its computer runs on DOS and has a floppy disk drive. The Dobson is one of the earliest instruments created to measure atmospheric ozone. Data from this technology aided the discovery of the hole in the ozone layer.

The Arrival Heights lab is also equipped with modern spectrometers.

As a protected area, visitors need a permit to visit. Great care is taken to maintain the electromagnetic quietness of the site. Vehicles are not allowed to use their headlights when approaching the lab, and people moving between buildings in the polar night navigate using a rope.

Alec Dempster is a science technician with Antarctica New Zealand. He tells us about the Dobson ozone spectrophotometer.

Questions for discussion

• What do you think Alec means when he tells us the Dobson ozone spectrophotometer was fully mechanical when first built?

• How does this help the machine’s longevity?

Transcript

Alec Dempster 

This thing was built in the 20s – fully mechanical. Nothing was originally automated on it, and that’s why it’s still working now. It’s just had some electrical upgrades. But because it was all mechanical and all just based off physics and light, nothing’s changed, so it can still keep going.

Acknowledgements 

Alec Dempster, Antarctica New Zealand 

Footage courtesy of Dianne Christenson and Carol Brieseman 
Dianne Christenson and Carol Brieseman visited Antarctica with support from the Antarctica New Zealand Community Engagement Programme