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Rethinking reactive halogen budgets in the midlatitude lower stratosphere
Author(s) -
Dvortsov Victor L.,
Geller Marvin A.,
Solomon Susan,
Schauffler Sue M.,
Atlas Elliot L.,
Blake Donald R.
Publication year - 1999
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 - 10.1029/1999gl900309
Subject(s) - stratosphere , middle latitudes , atmospheric sciences , bromine , troposphere , ozone depletion , ozone layer , bromoform , tropopause , environmental science , halogen , climatology , ozone , meteorology , chemistry , geology , physics , alkyl , organic chemistry , chromatography , chloroform
Current stratospheric models have difficulties in fully explaining the observed midlatitude ozone depletion in the lowermost stratosphere, particularly near the tropopause. Such models assume that only long‐lived source gases provide significant contributions to the stratospheric halogen budget, while all the short‐lived compounds are removed in the troposphere, the products being rained out. Here we show this assumption to be flawed. Using bromine species as an example, we show that in the lowermost stratosphere, where the observed midlatitude ozone trend maximizes, bromoform (CHBr 3 ) alone likely contributes more inorganic bromine than all the conventional long‐lived sources (halons and methyl bromide) combined.