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Monsoon circulations and tropical heterogeneous chlorine chemistry in the stratosphere
Author(s) -
Solomon Susan,
Kinnison Doug,
Garcia Rolando R.,
Bandoro Justin,
Mills Michael,
Wilka Catherine,
Neely Ryan R.,
Schmidt Anja,
Barnes John E.,
Vernier JeanPaul,
Höpfner Michael
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2016gl071778
Subject(s) - stratosphere , ozone , atmospheric sciences , chlorine , northern hemisphere , subtropics , environmental science , monsoon , climatology , chemical transport model , ozone depletion , reactive nitrogen , troposphere , chemistry , geology , meteorology , geography , nitrogen , ecology , organic chemistry , biology
Model simulations presented in this paper suggest that transport processes associated with the summer monsoons bring increased abundances of hydrochloric acid into contact with liquid sulfate aerosols in the cold tropical lowermost stratosphere, leading to heterogeneous chemical activation of chlorine species. The calculations indicate that the spatial and seasonal distributions of chlorine monoxide and chlorine nitrate near the monsoon regions of the northern hemisphere tropical and subtropical lowermost stratosphere could provide indicators of heterogeneous chlorine processing. In the model, these processes impact the local ozone budget and decrease ozone abundances, implying a chemical contribution to longer‐term northern tropical ozone profile changes at 16–19 km.