Heterogeneous physicochemistry of the polar ozone hole

• Main Authors: Turco, Richard P., Toon, Owen B., Hamill, Patrick
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: 1989
• Subjects: 46; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19900031876

Processes occurring in the polar winter stratosphere, which involve polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs), are investigated using observations from the Airborne Antarctic Ozone Experiment. In particular, data on the properties of PSCs and their physical chemistry, the microphysical processes and time constants for cloud processes, the heterogeneous chemical processes and their time constants, and nonlinearities in the long-term ozone trend associated with physical and chemical processes are examined. The chemical reactions leading to the depletion of the inert chlorine reservoir in a presence of type I PSCs are established, and it is shown that type II PSCs contribute to chemical processing that sustains the chemical imbalance of the polar stratosphere. It is shown that, using a simple model, the decadal evolution of the Antarctic ozone hole may be understood through nonlinearities in the heterogeneous chemistry, with possible contributing effects of variations in stratospheric temperatures and water vapor concentrations.