In the austral spring of 1987, two major field missions were mounted to explore the ozone hole phenomenon over the Antarctic continent: the Airborne Antarctic Ozone Experiment (AAOE) and the second ground-based National Ozone Expedition (NOZE II), based at Punta Arenas Airfield, Chile, on the Straits of Magellan, and at McMurdo Base, Antarctica, respectively. In addition, scientists from the Geophysical Monitoring for Climatic Change program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration supplied their regular ozonesonde data from the south pole. The missions generated papers which were accepted for this issue as follows: 52 from AAOE, eight from NOZE II, one from NOZE I, and one from GMCC, NOAA. Since this total of 62 papers was too large to accommodate in one volume, a decision was made to split them in two parts. This first dedicated issue contains 31 papers; the second will contain the remainder. The first paper in this first volume was not refereed; it is an attempt to provide a ''road map'' for the AAOE mission, with no scientific analysis or interpretation. There is no doubt that a pulse of more than 60 papers taxed both the refereeing capacity of the stratospheric community and the editorial capabilities of the journal. At a late, but crucial stage, Brian Toon was brought in to assist with the editorial process. The participation of many of the scientists involved with this special issue in the Airborne Arctic Stratospheric Expedition from Stavanger, Norway, in January and February 1989, also led to delay in the publication schedule. We express our profound thanks to those who reviewed these papers. The cost of these dedicated issues was evenly divided between the NASA Upper Atmosphere Research Program and the NOAA Environmental Research Laboratories Aeronomy Laboratory. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1989