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Measurement of isotopic abundances in collected stratospheric ozone samples
Author(s) -
Schueler B.,
Morton J.,
Mauersberger K.
Publication year - 1990
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/gl017i009p01295
Subject(s) - isotope , ozone , stratosphere , mass spectrometry , environmental science , altitude (triangle) , atmospheric sciences , ozone layer , analytical chemistry (journal) , environmental chemistry , chemistry , physics , meteorology , nuclear physics , geometry , mathematics , chromatography
Enrichment of heavy O 3 isotopes has been measured in collected stratospheric samples. A balloon‐borne cryogenic sampler was used to gather six O 3 samples between 26 and 35 km in three flights. Subsequent laboratory mass spectrometer analysis of rare O 3 isotopes at both mass 49 and 50 has resulted in more precise measurements than have previously been reported with in situ and ground‐based techniques. In one flight, 50 O 3 was enriched by 12–16% and 49 O 3 by 9–11%, both increasing with altitude. In the remaining two flights, the isotope enrichment was nearly mass‐independent at 8–9%. The enrichments in O 3 at mass 50 are less than the large 40% value observed in some stratospheric measurements but similar to 49 O 3 and 50 O 3 fractionations produced in laboratory‐generated ozone.