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Balloon‐borne mass spectrometer measurements of HNO 3 and HCN in the winter Arctic stratosphere — Evidence for HNO 3 ‐processing by aerosols
Author(s) -
Spreng S.,
Arnold F.
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 - 10.1029/93gl03229
Subject(s) - stratosphere , descent (aeronautics) , trace gas , altitude (triangle) , atmospheric sciences , atmosphere (unit) , arctic , mass spectrometry , aerosol , environmental science , middle latitudes , geology , meteorology , chemistry , physics , oceanography , geometry , mathematics , chromatography
Altitude profiles of the stratospheric trace gases HNO 3 and HCN were simultaneously measured by a balloon‐borne mass spectrometer, which was launched on 13 February, 1992 at Kiruna (68°N, 20°E, Northern Sweden). The HCN‐profile is nearly constant, around 0.18 ppbv, which is similar to previously measured midlatitude data. The HNO 3 ‐profile measured below 24 km on the descent part of the balloon flight is similar to NO y (≲20ppbv), and becomes smaller than NO y above 24 km. Probably, the large HNO 3 , below 24 km, reflect heterogenous HNO 3 ‐formation by H 2 SO 4 ‐H 2 O aerosols from volcano Pinatubo. On ascent HNO 3 was substantially decreased around 18 to 24 km, which was possibly due to HNO 3 ‐dissolution in H 2 SO 4 ‐H 2 O aerosols.