image: Aidan Colton at NOAA's Mauna Loa Observatory (MLO) demonstrates how early flask samples were filled at the site. Air collected year-round at MLO and eight other remote sites around the world has been analyzed for the industrial solvent methyl chloroform. Variability in the decay of this chemical has helped scientists understand the oxidizing or cleansing power of the global atmosphere and its sensitivity to natural and humaninduced perturbations. In the foreground is a time capsule that will be opened on MLO’s 100th Anniversary in 2057. A plaque is "dedicated to the hard working men and women of the Mauna Loa Observatory for over fifty years of observations and data collection." Background shows the telescope observatories on the top of nearby Mauna Kea Mountain on the Big Island of Hawai’i. This image relates to an article that appeared in the Jan. 7, 2011, issue of Science, published by AAAS. The study, by Dr. Stephen Montzska at NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colo., and colleagues was titled, "Small Interannual Variability of Global Atmospheric Hydroxyl." view more
Credit: Photo by James Elkins, NOAA ESRL