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Denitrification in the Arctic winter 2004/2005: Observations from ACE‐FTS
Author(s) -
Jin J. J.,
Semeniuk K.,
Manney G. L.,
Jonsson A. I.,
Beagley S. R.,
McConnell J. C.,
Rinsland C. P.,
Boone C. D.,
Walker K. A.,
Bernath P. F.
Publication year - 2006
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 - 10.1029/2006gl027687
Subject(s) - denitrification , tracer , arctic , atmospheric sciences , environmental science , polar vortex , methane , vortex , stratosphere , the arctic , polar , breakup , climatology , nitrogen , oceanography , meteorology , geology , chemistry , physics , organic chemistry , astronomy , nuclear physics , mechanics
Arctic denitrification in the winter 2004/2005 is analyzed using measurements from the satellite instrument ACE‐FTS. Two methods based on changes in the correlations of odd nitrogen (NO y ) versus methane and versus an artificial long‐lived tracer are employed. The observations show that significant denitrification occurred in the region 15 km–20 km and that it was spatially inhomogeneous within the polar vortex. Before the vortex breakup in mid‐March 2005 a maximum denitrification of 8 ± 0.8 ppbv, accounting for a relative reduction of over 50%, was observed at ∼450 K (∼17 km) using both methods. When averaged over the polar vortex for the first half of March, the denitrification at this level was about 4.4 ppbv and 5.0 ppbv from the artificial tracer method and the correlation method, respectively.