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1993-05-03
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PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 (818) 354-5011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A paper written by JPL ozone researcher Dr. Mario
Molina, which has come to form the basis for current
scientific understanding of Antarctic ozone depletion, has
been recognized by Science magazine as the best paper it
published during the June 1987-May 1988 period.
Molina and his co-workers Dr. Luisa Molina, Dr.
Tai-Ly Tso and Dr. Frank C. Y. Wang have received the AAAS
Newcomb-Cleveland Prize from Science magazine. Their paper,
entitled "Antarctic Stratospheric Chemistry of Chlorine
Nitrate, Hydrogen Chloride and Ice: Release of Active
Chlorine," deals with chemical transformations of
atmospheric trace species that take place during August and
September when the ozone layer over Antarctica is depleted by
as much as 50 percent.
The prize, shared with colleagues at SRI
International who published a companion paper, consists of a
bronze medal and a cash award of $5,000. The award was
presented January 17, 1989 in ceremonies during the American
Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in
San Francisco.
"It's very flattering. It was a very nice surprise
because Science (magazine) publishes several different
topics. We were competing with many other fields not just
environmental science," Molina said.
Based on results from Molina's laboratory at JPL,
the paper provided the first evidence to explain how
atmospheric ozone is destroyed by chlorine released from
man-made chloroflurocarbons. In their experiments, the
Molina group reproduced conditions in the polar stratosphere
and showed how chlorine is liberated from an inert form,
hydrochloric acid, and converted to a form that is easily
broken down by sunlight -- paving the way for it to attack
ozone.
In the 1970s, while at the University of California
at Irvine, Molina was one of two chemists who originally
called attention to the possible role of chloroflurocarbons
in destroying ozone. His award-winning paper takes his
research a step further and concentrates specifically on the
ozone hole over Antarctica.
The AAAS Newcomb-Cleveland Prize is the oldest
award presented by the science association.
The JPL research is sponsored by NASA's Office of
Space Science and Applications.
#####
2/01/89 MAH
#1227