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Possible impact of sodium species on ClO and O 3 in the upper stratosphere
Author(s) -
Rodriguez José M.,
Ko Malcolm K. W.,
Sze Nien Dak
Publication year - 1986
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/gl013i006p00499
Subject(s) - stratosphere , sodium , mesosphere , chlorine , ozone , atmospheric chemistry , atmosphere (unit) , atmospheric sciences , chemistry , ozone depletion , environmental science , environmental chemistry , meteorology , geology , physics , organic chemistry
Recent measurements of the rates for reactions of NaO 2 and NaOH with HCl and of the photoabsorption cross section of NaCl allow for realistic estimates of the impact of sodium chemistry on chlorine partitioning in the upper stratosphere. When sodium chemistry is incorporated into our one‐dimensional model of the upper atmosphere, the results indicate that the calculated ClO concentrations near 50 km could increase by up to a factor of two with a corresponding decrease in calculated O 3 abundances of as much as 15 percent. The impact on ClO and O 3 depends crucially on the assumed meteoritic source of sodium, on transport from the mesosphere, and on transformation and removal of gaseous sodium in the stratosphere. Since the fluctuations in the abundance of gaseous sodium could induce O 3 variations comparable to those caused by changes in temperature and solar UV, consideration of the chemistry of sodium and other metals may be an important element in efforts toward early detection of trends in upper stratospheric O 3 . Future increases in stratospheric chlorine will magnify the impact of sodium species on ozone.