PRELIMINARY results from an experiment being carried out to study the effects of pollution at airliner cruising altitudes suggest that ozone is not being depleted, says Airbus Industrie.
Five Airbus A340s (two operated by Air France, two by Lufthansa and one by Austrian Airlines) are involved in the Mozaic (measurement of ozone by Airbus in-service aircraft) project. More than 2,200 flights have been completed, carrying equipment to measure ozone, water vapour and temperatures.
"Scientists are still in the early stages of analysing the data, but preliminary results suggest that ozone is not being destroyed at the heights at which airliners fly," says Airbus. Computer models of the Earth's atmosphere will now be refined using the Mozaic data.
The experiment will continue until at least the end of 1996, and may include two additional A340s on routes across the Pacific.
The project is being coordinated by France's Centre National de la Recherche Scientific and is partially funded by the European Union.
Source: Flight International
