The Detection of Large HNO_3-Containing Particles in the Winter Arctic Stratosphere
- Creators
- Fahey, D. W.
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Wennberg, P. O.
Abstract
Large particles containing nitric acid (HNO_3) were observed in the 1999/2000 Arctic winter stratosphere. These in situ observations were made over a large altitude range (16 to 21 kilometers) and horizontal extent (1800 kilometers) on several airborne sampling flights during a period of several weeks. With diameters of 10 to 20 micrometers, these sedimenting particles have significant potential to denitrify the lower stratosphere. A microphysical model of nitric acid trihydrate particles is able to simulate the growth and sedimentation of these large sizes in the lower stratosphere, but the nucleation process is not yet known. Accurate modeling of the formation of these large particles is essential for understanding Arctic denitrification and predicting future Arctic ozone abundances.
Additional Information
© 2001 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Received 7 November 2000; accepted 9 January 2001. We appreciate the contributions of J. Barrilleaux, J. Nystrom, and D. Porter as NASA ER-2 pilots; of L. Lait in producing Fig. 1; and of B. P. Luo in discussions of the statistical evaluation of the particle size distributions. The NASA Upper Atmosphere Research Program supported this research.Additional details
- Alternative title
- The Detection of Large HNO3-Containing Particles in the Winter Arctic Stratosphere
- Eprint ID
- 46336
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20140618-114453557
- NASA
- Created
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2014-06-18Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-10Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences