Nitric acid trihydrate nucleation and denitrification in the Arctic stratosphere ...

• Main Authors: Grooß, Jens-Uwe, Engel, I., Borrmann, Stephan, Frey, Wiebke, Günther, Gebhard, Hoyle, Christopher R., Kivi, Rigel, Luo, Beiping P., Molleker, Sergej, Peter, Thomas, Pitts, Michael C., Schlager, Hans, Stiller, Gabriele, Vömel, Holger, Walker, Kaley A., Müller, Rolf
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: ETH Zurich 2014
• Subjects: Arctic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000080657; http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/80657

Nitric acid trihydrate (NAT) particles in the polar stratosphere have been shown to be responsible for vertical redistribution of reactive nitrogen (NOy). Recent observations by Cloud–Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) aboard the CALIPSO satellite have been explained in terms of heterogeneous nucleation of NAT on foreign nuclei, revealing this to be an important formation pathway for the NAT particles. In state of the art global- or regional-scale models, heterogeneous NAT nucleation is currently simulated in a very coarse manner using a constant, saturation-independent nucleation rate. Here we present first simulations for the Arctic winter 2009/2010 applying a new saturation-dependent parametrisation of heterogeneous NAT nucleation rates within the Chemical Lagrangian Model of the Stratosphere (CLaMS). The simulation shows good agreement of chemical trace species with in situ and remote sensing observations. The simulated polar stratospheric cloud (PSC) optical properties agree much better ... : Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 14 (2) ...