Ozone layer bromine (Br). While there are natural sources for all of these species, the concentrations of chlorine and bromine increased markedly in recent decades because of the release of large quantities of man-made organohalogen compounds, especially chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and bromofluorocarbons. These highly stable compounds are capable of surviving the rise to the stratosphere, where Cl and Br radicals are liberated by the action of ultraviolet light. Each radical is then free to initiate and catalyze a chain reaction capable of breaking down over 100,000 ozone molecules. By 2009, nitrous oxide was the largest ozone-depleting substance (ODS) emitted through human activities. The
Dobson ozone spectrophotometer the "Brewer" Spectrophotometer produced by Kipp & Zonen. Dobson ozone spectrophotometer The Dobson spectrophotometer, also known as Dobsonmeter, Dobson spectrometer, or just Dobson is one of the earliest instruments used to measure atmospheric ozone. The Dobson spectrometer was invented in 1924 by Gordon Dobson. A history of the development of the instrument is here and an example of one of Dobson's own instruments remains on display in the University of Oxford Department of Physics. Dobson spectrophotometers can be used to measure both total column ozone and profiles of ozone in the atmosphere. Ozone is tri-atomic oxygen, O; ozone molecules absorb