spoken, visible soulswere misled by other environmentalists in their claims ofthe proximity of catastrophe, and lacked either the abilityor desire to educate themselves on their subjects ofinterest before speaking out so publicly.The earths ozone layer is another dying ocean topic. Unlike the uneducated actors, however, scientists aroundthe world are working to determine how much of the ozonerelated change in the atmosphere is caused by humans, andhow much is attributed to natural processes (Kenitzer1996). Of the several NASA space labs scattered across thecountry, Goddard Space Flight Center is the one most focusedon environmental matters. As such, Goddard teams areresponsible for measuring and monitoring ozone levels foundin the earths atmosphere.Launched in 1978 aboard the Nimbus 7 polar orbitingsatellite, NASAs most visible and best-known ozoneresearch instrument is the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer(TOMS) (Kenitzer 1996) is managed by Goddard and provideshigh-resolution maps of global ozone levels. Ozonedepletion data supplied from TOMS has been instrumental inglobal agreements to phase out the use of ozone-depletingchemicals worldwide. The Antarctic ozone hole is seasonaland cyclical, being most prominent between August and October of each year. Though we dont yet know how much ofthe witnessed ozone depletion is natural and how much isman-made, TOMS data shows that the seasonal depletion grewevery year between its discovery in 1979 and 1994, when thedepletion was the most dramatic ever recorded. Since then,however, the seasonal depletion has been shown to be muchless severe than in the past (Kenitzer 1996).Goddard manages other environmental survey systemsusing data collected from satellite-mounted mechanisms. TOMS is simply the most visible because of the popularinterest in the topic of ozone depletion, to the point thatits discussion among the most ill-informed of the staunchenvironmentalists has replaced the death of th...
