Guidelines for Flight Planning during Periods of High Ozone Occurrence

At jet cruising altitudes high ozone amounts sometimes occur in the cabin. The purpose of this report is to present, for airline operational personnel, the best current estimate of the average ambient (outside) ozone and its variability with time and space. These summaries are based on two types of observations: balloon ozonesonde data for stations in Japan, North America, and western Europe; and 'GASP' data from commercial airliners obtained under the Global Atmospheric Sampling Program (GASP) conducted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The relationship of ozone amount with stratospheric transport mechanisms is discussed, leading to the identification of several meteorological parameters which can be used to qualitatively forecast ozone on a daily basis. Also presented is a preliminary regression of ozone with stratospheric temperature, developed from GASP data.