Possible effects of CO2 increase on the high-speed civil transport impact on ozone

Journal Article · Mon Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1994 · Journal of Geophysical Research

OSTI ID:57371

Pitari, G; Visconti, G ^[1]

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1. Univ. degliStudi, L`Aquila (Italy)

The role of heterogeneous chemistry on the potential impact on ozone of a commerical fleet of high speed civil transport aircraft (HSCT) has been recently studied with assessment models. Here an attempt is made to model the effects of the carbon dioxide increase which is predicted in the furture atmosphere when HSCT should be operational. For this purpose we have first used a three-dimensional model for the radiative and dynamical calculations and then a photochemical two-dimensional model including an explicit gas-particle interaction in the process of aerosol formation. The denoxification and denitrification associated with the formation of nitric acid trihydrate (NAT) aerosols is shown to significantly affect the partition of chemical families. The radiative perturbation introduced by the CO2 increase is shown to perturb the stratospheric dynamics in such a way that the lower stratospheric residual circulation is enhanced. This has the effect of reducing by about 15% the stratospheric residence time of odd nitrogen injected by the aircraft, so that the overall perturbation of stratospheric chemistry due to HSCT is mitigated with respect to the reference case in which CO2 is kept at the present level. Another effect is found to be produced by the stratospheric temperature cooling following the CO2 increase. Our model predicts a large enhancement of the surface area density of NAT aerosols in the arctic region, so that the additional denitrification produces a further decrease of the relative role of the NO(X) catalytic cycle for ozone destruction in the lower stratosphere.

• OSTI ID: 57371
• Journal Information: Journal of Geophysical Research, Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research Journal Issue: D8 Vol. 99; ISSN JGREA2; ISSN 0148-0227
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ABSORPTION SPECTROSCOPY
ANNUAL VARIATIONS
ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY
CARBON DIOXIDE
MONITORING
NITROGEN OXIDES
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION