MANTRA ‐ A Balloon Mission to Study the Odd‐Nitrogen Budget of the Stratosphere

Abstract The Middle Atmosphere Nitrogen TRend Assessment (MANTRA) series of high‐altitude balloon flights is being undertaken to investigate changes in the concentrations of northern hemisphere mid‐latitude stratospheric ozone, and of nitrogen and chlorine compounds that play a role in ozone chemistry. Four campaigns have been carried out to date, all from Vanscoy, Saskatchewan, Canada (52°01'N, 107°02'W, 511.0 m). The first MANTRA mission took place in August 1998, with the balloon flight on 24 August 1998 being the first Canadian launch of a large high‐altitude balloon in about fifteen years. The balloon carried a payload of instruments to measure atmospheric composition, and made measurements from a float altitude of 32–38 km for one day. Three of these instruments had been flown on the Stratoprobe flights of the Atmospheric Environment Service (now the Meteorological Service of Canada) in the 1970s and early 1980s, providing a link to historical data predating the onset of mid‐latitude ozone loss. The...