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Measurements of NO 2 and HNO 3 during a stratospheric warming at 54°N in February 1979
Author(s) -
Evans W. F. J.,
Kerr J. B.,
McElroy C. T.,
O'Brien R. S.,
McConnell J. C.
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/gl009i004p00493
Subject(s) - atmospheric sciences , stratosphere , altitude (triangle) , environmental science , zenith , polar vortex , mixing ratio , climatology , physics , geology , geometry , mathematics , optics
The altitude distribution of HNO 3 was measured during a stratospheric warming on a balloon flight from Cold Lake, Alberta, on 11 February, 1979. The HNO 3 profile measured appears to be layered and have a greater thickness than that of a typical summer profile. Ground based observations of the zenith sky were made from 31 January to 12 February and yield the total abundance of stratospheric NO 2 . Stratospheric NO 2 column amounts deduced from these ground based measurements and another set taken during February, 1977 exhibit a diurnal variation under dynamical conditions of both stable vortex flow (1977) and stratospheric warming (1979). Using these measurements, the NO measurements of Knight et al. (1982), and model calculations we find that above 20 km there does not appear to be a pronounced seasonal change in total odd nitrogen. However, below 24 km the conversion of NO w = NO + NO 2 + 2 × N 2 O 5 + HO 2 NO 2 to HNO 3 occurs more rapidly than calculated using current homogeneous chemistry.