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Odd nitrogen removal on background sulfate aerosols: Implications for the ozone hole
Author(s) -
Pitari Giovanni,
Visconti Guido
Publication year - 1991
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 - 10.1029/91gl02243
Subject(s) - ozone , ozone depletion , sulfate , stratosphere , atmospheric sciences , sulfate aerosol , nitric acid , polar , aerosol , reactive nitrogen , atmospheric chemistry , nitrogen , chlorine , environmental science , chemistry , meteorology , physics , inorganic chemistry , organic chemistry , astronomy
A sensitivity study is carried out for the dependence of the polar ozone loss rate on the value of the sticking coefficient γ for the reaction converting odd nitrogen into nitric acid on sulfate aerosols. In this study we use a 2D model including nitrogen and chlorine families along with an explicit condensation mechanism for polar stratospheric clouds (PSC) and a fixed distribution of background sulfate aerosols in the lower stratosphere. If only background aerosols are included negligible changes in total ozone are observed (up to ∼1%) when γ is increased from 0.02 to 0.14. If PSCs are added the same test produces a significant reduction of the ozone hole depth in Antarctica.