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Balloon profiles of stratospheric NO 2 and HNO 3 for testing the heterogeneous hydrolysis of N 2 O 5 on sulfate aerosols
Author(s) -
Webster C. R.,
May R. D.,
Allen M.,
Jaeglé L.,
McCormick M. P.
Publication year - 1994
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 - 10.1029/93gl03213
Subject(s) - aerosol , sulfate , stratosphere , bliss , analytical chemistry (journal) , sulfate aerosol , carbonyl sulfide , mineralogy , atmospheric sciences , materials science , sulfur , chemistry , meteorology , geology , environmental chemistry , physics , computer science , programming language , metallurgy
Simultaneous in situ measurements of stratospheric NO 2 , HNO 3 , HCl, and CH 4 from 34 to 24 km were made in August 1992 from Palestine, Texas, using the Balloon‐borne Laser In‐Situ Sensor (BLISS) tunable diode laser spectrometer. Although the measurements of NO 2 , HNO 3 , and NO 2 /HNO 3 agree well with gas‐phase model calculations near 34 km where SAGE II data show little sulfate aerosol, this is not true at the lower altitudes where SAGE II shows high aerosol loadings. At 24 km the BLISS NO 2 and HNO 3 measurements are 70% lower, and 50% higher, respectively, than the gas phase model predictions, with a measured NO 2 /HNO 3 ratio 5 times smaller. When the heterogeneous hydrolysis of N 2 O 5 and ClONO 2 on sulfate aerosol of surface area densities matching the SAGE II measurements is added to the model, good agreement with the BLISS measurements is found over the whole altitude range.