Changing Atmosphere Infrared Tomography Explorer (CAIRT)
Humankind will soon lose a great deal of vigilance over the ozone layer, which shields life on Earth from harmful solar radiation.
The impending loss of NASA’s Aura and the Canadian Space Agency’s SCISAT satellites threatens scientists’ ability to closely monitor compounds that destroy ozone and alter stratospheric circulation. With no planned missions to replace either satellite, a data desert in the stratosphere appears imminent, researchers warn in the March Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
The ESA Earth Explorer 11 Candidate Mission CAIRT (cairt.eu) can help fill that gap.
Salawitch, R.J., J. Smith, H. Selkirk, K. Wargan, M.P. Chipperfield, R. Hossaini, P. Levelt, N. Livesey, L. McBride, L. Millan, E. Moyer, M. Santee, M. Schoeberl, S. Solomon, K. Stone and H. Worden, The imminent data dessert: The future of stratospheric monitoring in a rapidly changing world, Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 106, E540-E563, doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-23-0821.1, 2025.