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Balloon borne in‐situ detection of OH in the stratosphere from 37 to 23 km
Author(s) -
Stimpfle R. M.,
Lapson L. B.,
Wennberg P. O.,
Anderson J. G.
Publication year - 1989
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/gl016i012p01433
Subject(s) - stratosphere , ozone , water vapor , environmental science , copper vapor laser , laser , altitude (triangle) , balloon , remote sensing , lidar , atmospheric sciences , meteorology , analytical chemistry (journal) , materials science , optics , physics , geology , chemistry , environmental chemistry , medicine , geometry , mathematics , cardiology
The OH number density in the stratosphere has been measured over the altitude interval of 37 to 23 km at midday via a balloon‐borne gondola launched from Palestine, Texas on July 6, 1988. OH radicals are detected with a laser induced fluorescence instrument employing a 17 kHz repetition rate copper vapor laser pumped dye laser optically coupled to an enclosed flow, in‐situ sampling chamber. OH abundances ranged from 88±31 pptv (1.1 ± 0.4 × 10 7 molec cm −3 ) in the 36 to 35 km interval to 0.9 ± 0.8 pptv (8.7 ± 7.7 × 10 5 molec cm −3 ) in the 24 to 23 km interval. The stated uncertainty (±1σ) includes that from both measurement precision and accuracy. Simultaneous detection of ozone and water vapor densities was carried out with separate on‐board instruments.