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Climate Science Glossary
Return to glossary listALE
Also: Atmospheric Lifetime Experiment
Atmospheric Lifetime Experiment
"The Atmospheric Lifetime Experiment (ALE) began in 1978 as a global
network program to provide continuous high-frequency gas
chromatographic measurements of nitrous oxide (N2O),
Chloroflurocarbons CFCl3 (CFC-11), and CF2Cl2 (CFC-12). The network
included observation stations situated at different sites throughout
the world: Cape Grim, Tasmania; Point Matatula, American Samoa; Ragged
Point, Barbados; Cape Meares, Oregon and Adrigole, Ireland" Source:
This was an early (late 1970's) experimental program aimed at gathering information about various gases in the atmosphere. A particular focus was the gases that were implicated a few years later in contributing to the creation of the Ozone Hole in the Antarctic.
Definition based on (revised from) IPCC AR4.
All IPCC definitions taken from Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Working Group I Contribution to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Annex I, Glossary, pp. 941-954. Cambridge University Press.
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