Year-round measurements of ozone at 66 deg S with a visible spectrometer

In March 1990, a zenith-sky UV-visible spectrometer of the design 'Systeme Automatique d'Obervation Zenithal' (SAOZ) was installed at Faraday in Antarctica (66.3 deg S, 64.3 deg W). SAOZ records spectra between 290 and 600 nm during daylight. Its analysis program fits laboratory spectra of constituents, at various wavelengths, to the differential of the ratio of the observed spectrum and a reference spectrum. The least-squares fitting procedure minimizes the sum-of-squares of residuals. Ozone is deduced from absorption in its visible bands between 500 and 560 nm. The fortunate colocation of this SAOZ with the well-calibrated Dobson at Faraday has allowed us to examine the calibration of the zero of the SAOZ, difficult at visible wavelengths because of the small depth of absorption. Here we describe recent improvements and limitations to this calibration, and discuss SAOZ measurements of ozone during winter in this important location at the edge of the Antarctic vortex

Measurements of stratospheric composition using a star pointing spectrometer

Measurements of stratospheric composition have been made with a novel star-pointing spectrometer. The instrument consists of a telescope that focuses light from stars, planets, or the moon onto a spectrometer and two dimensional CCD array detector. Atmospheric absorptions can be measured, from which atmospheric columns of several gases can be determined. The instrument was deployed in Abisko, 69 deg N, during the European Arctic Stratospheric Ozone Experiment (EASOE). The instrument has the potential for measuring O3, OClO, NO2, and NO3. In this paper, a method for the retrieval of vertical columns is described, and some examples of ozone measurements given

Surfactant Proteins A and D Suppress Alveolar Macrophage Phagocytosis via Interaction with SIRPα

Rationale: Efficient removal of apoptotic cells is essential for the resolution of acute pulmonary inflammation. Alveolar macrophages ingest apoptotic cells less avidly than other professional phagocytes at rest but overcome this defect during acute inflammation. Surfactant protein (SP)-A and SP-D are potent modulators of macrophage function and may suppress clearance of apoptotic cells through activation of the transmembrane receptor signal inhibitory regulatory protein α (SIRPα)