Biospherical Instruments

Dr. Bernhard of Biospherical Instrument has been assessing changes in stratospheric ozone and solar UV radiation in the Arctic for over 10 years. Together with colleagues from Canada, Norway, Finland, Germany and the US, he just published a paper on recordbreaking increases in Arctic solar ultraviolet radiation caused by exceptionally large ozone depletion in the spring of 2020. Amongst others, he concluded that sunburning UV radiation levels observed in the spring of 2020... exceeded historical measurements by up to 140% on several days. In northern Canada, the average UV radiation for March was about 75% larger than usual and the average UV in April 2020 was elevated on average by about 25%. These greatly elevated UV levels were caused by the lowest spring-time ozone concentrations since the start of satellite measurements in 1979, which in turn were the result of an exceptionally strong, cold, and persistent stratospheric polar vortex. The question to what degree the stratosphere is cooling in the long-term (which would lead to more ozone depletion in the Arctic spring) while the surface of the Earth is warming is an area of active research. It is a very complicated issue, but being part of a team of scientists unraveling the secrets of the climate system is also very exciting! The paper is available here: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com//10.1/2020GL090844. See more

Biospherical is particularly proud of the work, sponsored by Biospherical, that one of our own, Dr. Germar Bernhard, put into publications of the UNEP Environmental Effects Assessment Panel. His latest publication is found here: https://pubs.rsc.org//c/articlelanding/2020/PP/D0PP90011G

Here is a interesting recent article in the open literature that used our C-OPS radiometers: https://www.frontiersin.org//10.3389/fmars.2020.567007/full

Alex Olivier from Biospherical Instruments is on Leg 1!

A big thank you to Ballast Point Brewing Co for being a good neighbor! We are located just across an alley from them. Yesterday we had a (literal) ton of boxes to load on a truck to ship for a NASA scientific research project. A Ballast Point employee generously used their forklift to assist us with loading. It made the process much faster and easier. And this is the third time in the last 6 months they have helped out with the large shipments involved in this project. Thank you from Biospherical!