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Published April 11, 2003 | public
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Enhanced Upper Tropical Tropospheric COS: Impact on the Stratospheric Aerosol Layer

Notholt, J.
Kuang, Z.
Rinsland, C. P.
Toon, G. C. ORCID icon
Rex, M.
Jones, N.
Albrecht, T.
Deckelmann, H.
Krieg, J.
Weinzierl, C.
Bingemer, H.
Weller, R.
Schrems, O.
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Abstract

Carbonyl sulfide (COS) is considered to be a major source of the stratospheric sulfate aerosol during periods of volcanic quiescence. We measured COS at the tropical tropopause and find mixing ratios to be 20 to 50% larger than are assumed in models. The enhanced COS levels are correlated with high concentrations of biomass-burning pollutants like carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen cyanide (HCN). The analysis of backward trajectories and global maps of fire statistics suggest that biomass-burning emissions transported upward by deep convection are the source of the enhanced COS in the upper tropical troposphere.

Additional Information

© 2014 American Association for the Advancement of Science. 11 November 2002; accepted 25 February 2003. We acknowledge the ATMOS team, who acquired and processed the shuttle spectra and made them available for analysis. We also thank the Polarstern crew for their assistance.

Additional details

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Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 18, 2023