The Airborne Arctic Stratospheric Expedition (AASE) which was based in Stavanger, Norway during January and February, 1989, was designed to study the production and loss mechanisms of ozone in the north polar stratospheric environment, and the effect on ozone distribution of the Arctic polar vortex and of the cold temperatures associated with the formation of Polar Stratospheric Clouds (PSC).

The dataset collection consists of measurements of chemical and dynamical parameters collected onboard the NASA ER-2 and DC-8 aircraft (for example, ClO, BrO, HCl, O3, NOx, N2, HNO3 and CH4, whole air samples and aerosol measurements). In addition, there are ozonesonde soundings from three stations (Angmagssalik and Scoresbysund, Greenland, and Lerwick, U.K.), aerosol and temperature profiles from NASA's SAM II satellite, and selected radiosonde soundings from stations in the region of the experiment.

Theory teams provided calculations of: potential vorticity along the ER-2 flight path; cross-sections of potential vorticity, temperature, and geopotential heights along the DC-8 flight path; cross-sections of Clx, Fx, HCl, HNO3, and NOy along the DC-8 flight path; global grid point values of temperature, geopotential heights, and horizontal winds on selected pressure surfaces; northern hemispheric grid point values of potential vorticity and pressure on selected potential temperature surfaces.