South Pole Ozone Changes
Meet the Team
Teacher - Elke Bergholz
Elke Bergholz teaches high school Biology at the United Nations International School in New York City. Over the course of her career she has taught Life Science, Physical Science, General and Honors Biology, Environmental Science, AP Biology, Biotechnology, Human Physiology, and Biology for the International Baccalaureate, an internationally accepted high school diploma. Ms. Bergholz has advised an after school river monitoring student group for several years and is a research mentor to several students completing independent biology research. Prior to teaching, Ms. Bergholz conducted research for many years in different parts of the world in marine biology, fisheries biology, and oceanography. Ms. Bergholz traveled to Antarctica in 1999 as a TEA teacher to collect data on atmospheric ozone and will return with Dr. David Hoffman to continue their studies.
Researcher - David Hofmann
David Hofmann began his career at the University of Wyoming, leading an atmospheric physics group that used large balloons to study the stratosphere. During the 1980’s his group was at the forefront of stratospheric aerosol and Antarctic ozone hole studies. In 1990 Dr. Hofmann assumed leadership of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) global greenhouse gas and ozone monitoring efforts. His group at NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, monitors important greenhouse gases at many sites around the world, including permanent stations in the Arctic at Barrow, Alaska, and the Antarctic at the South Pole Station.
Project Information
Where are They?
The team will be working from the South Pole Station in Antarctica. The Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station is the southernmost continually inhabited place on the planet. Its name honors Roald Amundsen who reached the South Pole in 1911 and Robert F. Scott who reached the South Pole in 1912.
What are they Doing?
Ms. Bergholz traveled to Antarctica in 1999 as a TEA teacher to collect data on atmospheric ozone. Since then, ozone depletion and global warming have become even more urgent international concerns. Ms. Bergholz will join Dr. Hofmann once again at the NOAA Clean Air Facility at the South Pole Station to collect current data on atmospheric ozone to compare with the data they collected in 1999. Ms. Bergholz and Dr. Hofmann will attempt to measure the positive influences of the Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer. The group will be collecting information on atmospheric ozone (surface ozone, total ozone, and ozone profiles), carbon dioxide, and aerosols. Comparisons will be made to atmospheric data in other parts of the world in order to predict the influence that the Kyoto Protocol and other clean air policies might have.
Resources
| Title | Date | About | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ozone Data Comparison over the South Pole | Overview This data plotting lesson compares different stratospheric ozone data collected at the... | Lesson | |
| Temperature Profile above the South Pole | Overview This data plotting lesson is about temperature changes throughout the atmosphere. The data... | Lesson | |
| Researcher comes in from cold for Niles North date | 11 October 2007 | Skokie Review staff writer Kathy Routliffe writes about PolarTREC teacher Elke Bergholz and her... | Article |
| Ozone Changes at South Pole Station, Antarctica | 19 December 2007 | Live from IPY event with Elke Bergholz and researchers at South Pole Station, Antarctica. | Event |
| Ozone changes at South Pole Station, Antarctica | 12 December 2007 | Elke Bergholz was joined by NOAA atmospheric researcher, David Hofmann to discuss their research... | Event |


