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Spatial and temporal variability of ClONO{sub 2}, HNO{sub 3}, and O{sub 3} in the Arctic winter of 1992/1993 as obtained by airborne infrared emission spectroscopy

Journal Article · · Journal of Geophysical Research
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/94JD02954· OSTI ID:159760
; ;  [1]
  1. Universitaet Karlsruhe (Germany); and others
The authors report on a series of aircraft based measurements of column amounts of nitric acid, chlorine nitrate, and ozone, made by means of infrared emission spectroscopy, at latitude ranges from inside the polar vortex to as far south as 37{degrees}N. Measurements were made over Europe, and the European arctic. Chlorine nitrate acts as a major sink for reactive chlorine, however its effectiveness is dependent upon photolysis of nitric acid to nitrogen dioxide, which is severly limited in northern latitudes during winter months. Their measurements show marked density variation of chlorine nitrate occuring across the polar vortex in late January of 1993. Several weeks after the threshold for formation of polar stratospheric clouds had passed, the chlorine nitrate densities had risen markedly, and nitric acid densities fallen.
OSTI ID:
159760
Journal Information:
Journal of Geophysical Research, Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research Journal Issue: D5 Vol. 100; ISSN JGREA2; ISSN 0148-0227
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English