Direct measurements of the vertical distribution of atmospheric ozone to 70 kilometers altitude

Abstract

Atmospheric ozone was measured to an altitude of 70 km over the White Sands Proving Grounds, New Mexico, on June 14, 1949. The data were obtained from a series of solar ultraviolet spectra photographed near sunset from two spectrographs installed in an Aerobee rocket. The ozone concentration above 35 km decreased approximately exponentially, and was in good agreement with the concentration calculated from photochemical theory, provided that the three-body collision process O + O + M → O2 + M was considered.