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Measurements of nitric oxide during a stratospheric warming
Author(s) -
Knight W.,
Hastie D. R.,
Ridley B. A.
Publication year - 1982
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/gl009i004p00489
Subject(s) - atmospheric sciences , mixing ratio , environmental science , stratosphere , altitude (triangle) , latitude , nitrogen , mixing (physics) , climatology , chemistry , geology , physics , geometry , mathematics , geodesy , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics
The altitude distribution of NO was measured between 12 and 33 km near 54°N during the stratospheric warming of February, 1979. The NO mixing ratios were considerably smaller compared to summer conditions, especially below 23 km. The measurements are used to estimate the distribution of NO 2 for comparison with ground‐based column measurements and to show that during the warming NO x is at least a factor of two lower than is observed in summer at this latitude. This reduction in NO x is shown to be consistent with a larger fraction of odd‐nitrogen existing as N 2 O 5 .