More rapid polar ozone depletion through the reaction of HOCI with HCI on polar stratospheric clouds

THE direct reaction of HOC1 with HC1, known to occur in liquid water1 and on glass surfaces2, has now been measured on surfaces similar to polar stratospheric clouds3,4 and is shown here to play a critical part in polar ozone loss. Two keys to understanding the chemistry of the Antarctic ozone hole5...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Prather, MJ
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: eScholarship, University of California 1992
Subjects:
Online Access:https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9ck4j3zq
id ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org/ark:/13030/qt9ck4j3zq
record_format openpolar
spelling ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org/ark:/13030/qt9ck4j3zq 2023-05-15T13:52:37+02:00 More rapid polar ozone depletion through the reaction of HOCI with HCI on polar stratospheric clouds Prather, MJ 534 - 537 1992-01-01 application/pdf https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9ck4j3zq unknown eScholarship, University of California qt9ck4j3zq https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9ck4j3zq CC-BY CC-BY Nature, vol 355, iss 6360 General Science & Technology article 1992 ftcdlib 2021-10-11T17:15:12Z THE direct reaction of HOC1 with HC1, known to occur in liquid water1 and on glass surfaces2, has now been measured on surfaces similar to polar stratospheric clouds3,4 and is shown here to play a critical part in polar ozone loss. Two keys to understanding the chemistry of the Antarctic ozone hole5-7 are, one, the recognition that reactions on polar stratospheric clouds transform HC1 into more reactive species denoted by ClOx(refs 812) and, two, the discovery of the ClO-dimer (C12O2) mechanism that rapidly catalyses destruction of O3(refs 1315). Observations of high levels of OClO and ClO in the springtime Antarctic stratosphere1619 confirm that most of the available chlorine is in the form of ClOx (refs 20, 21). But current photochemical models22,23 have difficulty converting HC1 to ClOx rapidly enough in early spring to account fully for the observations5-7,20,21. Here I show, using a chemical model, that the direct reaction of HOC1 with HC1 provides the missing mechanism. As alternative sources of nitrogen-containing oxidants, such as N2O5 and ClONO2, have been converted in the late autumn to inactive HNO3 by known reactions on the sulphate-layer aerosols24-27, the reaction of HOC1 with HC1 on polar stratospheric clouds becomes the most important pathway for releasing that stratospheric chlorine which goes into polar night as HC1. © 1992 Nature Publishing Group. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic polar night University of California: eScholarship Antarctic The Antarctic
institution Open Polar
collection University of California: eScholarship
op_collection_id ftcdlib
language unknown
topic General Science & Technology
spellingShingle General Science & Technology
Prather, MJ
More rapid polar ozone depletion through the reaction of HOCI with HCI on polar stratospheric clouds
topic_facet General Science & Technology
description THE direct reaction of HOC1 with HC1, known to occur in liquid water1 and on glass surfaces2, has now been measured on surfaces similar to polar stratospheric clouds3,4 and is shown here to play a critical part in polar ozone loss. Two keys to understanding the chemistry of the Antarctic ozone hole5-7 are, one, the recognition that reactions on polar stratospheric clouds transform HC1 into more reactive species denoted by ClOx(refs 812) and, two, the discovery of the ClO-dimer (C12O2) mechanism that rapidly catalyses destruction of O3(refs 1315). Observations of high levels of OClO and ClO in the springtime Antarctic stratosphere1619 confirm that most of the available chlorine is in the form of ClOx (refs 20, 21). But current photochemical models22,23 have difficulty converting HC1 to ClOx rapidly enough in early spring to account fully for the observations5-7,20,21. Here I show, using a chemical model, that the direct reaction of HOC1 with HC1 provides the missing mechanism. As alternative sources of nitrogen-containing oxidants, such as N2O5 and ClONO2, have been converted in the late autumn to inactive HNO3 by known reactions on the sulphate-layer aerosols24-27, the reaction of HOC1 with HC1 on polar stratospheric clouds becomes the most important pathway for releasing that stratospheric chlorine which goes into polar night as HC1. © 1992 Nature Publishing Group.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Prather, MJ
author_facet Prather, MJ
author_sort Prather, MJ
title More rapid polar ozone depletion through the reaction of HOCI with HCI on polar stratospheric clouds
title_short More rapid polar ozone depletion through the reaction of HOCI with HCI on polar stratospheric clouds
title_full More rapid polar ozone depletion through the reaction of HOCI with HCI on polar stratospheric clouds
title_fullStr More rapid polar ozone depletion through the reaction of HOCI with HCI on polar stratospheric clouds
title_full_unstemmed More rapid polar ozone depletion through the reaction of HOCI with HCI on polar stratospheric clouds
title_sort more rapid polar ozone depletion through the reaction of hoci with hci on polar stratospheric clouds
publisher eScholarship, University of California
publishDate 1992
url https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9ck4j3zq
op_coverage 534 - 537
geographic Antarctic
The Antarctic
geographic_facet Antarctic
The Antarctic
genre Antarc*
Antarctic
polar night
genre_facet Antarc*
Antarctic
polar night
op_source Nature, vol 355, iss 6360
op_relation qt9ck4j3zq
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9ck4j3zq
op_rights CC-BY
op_rightsnorm CC-BY
_version_ 1766257053383262208