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Ozone observatory "mothballed" until further notice

Ellesmere Island lab could be reopened in two years if Environment Canada finds enough money

MIRIAM HILL

A lab that measures the ever-decreasing ozone levels in the Arctic has been closed indefinitely because of funding cuts at Environment Canada.

The Arctic Stratospheric Ozone Observatory, located about 15 kilometres from the Eureka weather station on Ellesmere Island, opened in 1993 and has been continually collecting data on the substance that protects us from the sun’s ultraviolet rays. Scientists from Canada, Japan and the United States had used the facility, which closed last month.

Angus Fergusson, Senior Meteorologist Stratospheric Ozone and UV Issue Manager with Environment Canada, said the lab is being "mothballed" for two years. All scientific instruments have been removed, but the building will be kept warm so that it can be used again if more funding is found. An employee from the Eureka weather office will be looking after the building, he said.

"We’ve been running the station since about 1992 and in the last number of years it was running with a budget of about $500,000," Fergusson explained. "If things deteriorate up there and we get some more money to do some research then we’ll be able to move back in and open the lab again."

It costs the government about $200,000 to maintain the building and another $300,000 to fly in Canadian scientists and their equipment each year.

He said, in 1995, Environment Canada’s budget was cut over a number of years and the agency is trying to work within the budget it has been left with.

"It comes down to a fact that we have to set our priorities, what we want to do and some things have to go and some things stay," he said, but hope is not lost for the ozone lab.

"We’re still concerned over the fact of ozone depletion in the Arctic and for the last two winters it’s been very warm in the Arctic stratosphere so we haven’t seen much ozone depletion," Fergusson said. "But in the winter of 2000, it was very cold and there was quite a bit of ozone depletion monitored up there." The lab is being maintained in case more research needs to be done and the money becomes available to fund that research.

Kimberly Strong, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Toronto, said the closure is bad news, especially since long-term monitoring of ozone depletion is sorely needed.

"If the federal government is really going to close it down, myself and a number of colleagues are trying to put together a group of university and government scientists to somehow try and save it — to raise money from a number of different programs," she said. "That’s in the very early stages and we’re kind of gathering support at the moment and we’ll see where that goes."

There is another station in Norway that measures ozone levels, she said, but it’s not enough.

"It’s about long-term monitoring. It’s something the federal government should be doing, budget pressures notwithstanding," she said. "It’s difficult for university people to do because grad students and post-doctoral researchers are here for short periods. To get that kind of long-term continuity you need those government scientists who are doing measurements for long periods and become very familiar with their equipment."

Fergusson said although Environment Canada has said the lab will be maintained for two years, the feeling is that the station will remain "mothballed" until more funding is found. If a consortium of universities and scientists can come up with extra dollars, it’s a good thing.

"We hope to save it in the long term," Strong said. "But people need to be aware of the fact that it has been closed. At the present time there are no plans to reopen it."

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