The Airborne Antarctic Ozone Experiment (AAOE) aimed to study chemical composition and physical parameters in the Antarctic during the development of the Antarctic Ozone Hole in August and September 1987. The data is primarily that collected onboard the NASA ER-2 and DC-8 aircraft, along with ozonesonde data collected at four Antarctic stations: Halley Bay, McMurdo, Palmer Station, and the South Pole. The experiment tested the chemical and dynamical theories of the ozone hole using the aircraft data in theoretical computer models of the chemistry and dynamics of the stratosphere. The data include atmospheric composition, meteorological parameters, aerosol data and cloud data.

The NASA ER-2 is a high altitude research aircraft that sampled air at those altitudes where the ozone hole was at its most intense, with data gathered on the air mass within the confines of the hole itself. The ER-2 collected information on three-dimensional winds, pressure, temperature, temperature profiles +/- 1 km from flight level, chlorine monoxide, bromine monoxide, ozone, nitric oxide, reactive nitrogen, total water, nitrous oxide, whole air sampling, condensation nuclei, aerosol size distribution and composition, and cloud particle images and sizes.

The DC-8 aircraft flew at the lowermost extremities of the hole and deployed a combination of remote sounding of the overlying atmosphere with some in situ sampling. Vertical distributions of ozone and aerosols above the cruising altitude of the aircraft and within the hole were mapped. The DC-8 collected ozone and aerosol profiles overhead by LIDAR; and measured ozone, bromine oxide, OClO, nitrogen dioxide, nitric acid, and hydrogen chloride. In situ methods yielded ozone, total water, and whole air sampling.