Chlorine activation and enhanced ozone depletion induced by wildfire aerosol
Remarkable perturbations in the stratospheric abundances of chlorine species and ozone were observed over Southern Hemisphere mid-latitudes following the 2020 Australian wildfires(1,2). These changes in atmospheric chemical composition suggest that wildfire aerosols affect stratospheric chlorine and...
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2023
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05683-0 |
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ftncar:oai:drupal-site.org:articles_26178 2023-10-01T03:51:10+02:00 Chlorine activation and enhanced ozone depletion induced by wildfire aerosol Solomon, Susan (author) Stone, Kane (author) Yu, Pengfei (author) Murphy, D. M. (author) Kinnison, Doug (author) Ravishankara, A. R. (author) Wang, Peidong (author) 2023-03-09 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05683-0 en eng Nature--Nature--0028-0836--1476-4687 articles:26178 doi:10.1038/s41586-022-05683-0 ark:/85065/d7b28073 Copyright 2023 Springer Nature. article Text 2023 ftncar https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05683-0 2023-09-04T18:24:21Z Remarkable perturbations in the stratospheric abundances of chlorine species and ozone were observed over Southern Hemisphere mid-latitudes following the 2020 Australian wildfires(1,2). These changes in atmospheric chemical composition suggest that wildfire aerosols affect stratospheric chlorine and ozone depletion chemistry. Here we propose that wildfire aerosol containing a mixture of oxidized organics and sulfate(3-7) increases hydrochloric acid solubility(8-11) and associated heterogeneous reaction rates, activating reactive chlorine species and enhancing ozone loss rates at relatively warm stratospheric temperatures. We test our hypothesis by comparing atmospheric observations to model simulations that include the proposed mechanism. Modelled changes in 2020 hydrochloric acid, chlorine nitrate and hypochlorous acid abundances are in good agreement with observations(1,2). Our results indicate that wildfire aerosol chemistry, although not accounting for the record duration of the 2020 Antarctic ozone hole, does yield an increase in its area and a 3-5% depletion of southern mid-latitude total column ozone. These findings increase concern(2,12,13) that more frequent and intense wildfires could delay ozone recovery in a warming world. 80NSSC19K0952 Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic OpenSky (NCAR/UCAR - National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research) Antarctic Nature 615 7951 259 264 |
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Open Polar |
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OpenSky (NCAR/UCAR - National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research) |
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ftncar |
language |
English |
description |
Remarkable perturbations in the stratospheric abundances of chlorine species and ozone were observed over Southern Hemisphere mid-latitudes following the 2020 Australian wildfires(1,2). These changes in atmospheric chemical composition suggest that wildfire aerosols affect stratospheric chlorine and ozone depletion chemistry. Here we propose that wildfire aerosol containing a mixture of oxidized organics and sulfate(3-7) increases hydrochloric acid solubility(8-11) and associated heterogeneous reaction rates, activating reactive chlorine species and enhancing ozone loss rates at relatively warm stratospheric temperatures. We test our hypothesis by comparing atmospheric observations to model simulations that include the proposed mechanism. Modelled changes in 2020 hydrochloric acid, chlorine nitrate and hypochlorous acid abundances are in good agreement with observations(1,2). Our results indicate that wildfire aerosol chemistry, although not accounting for the record duration of the 2020 Antarctic ozone hole, does yield an increase in its area and a 3-5% depletion of southern mid-latitude total column ozone. These findings increase concern(2,12,13) that more frequent and intense wildfires could delay ozone recovery in a warming world. 80NSSC19K0952 |
author2 |
Solomon, Susan (author) Stone, Kane (author) Yu, Pengfei (author) Murphy, D. M. (author) Kinnison, Doug (author) Ravishankara, A. R. (author) Wang, Peidong (author) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
title |
Chlorine activation and enhanced ozone depletion induced by wildfire aerosol |
spellingShingle |
Chlorine activation and enhanced ozone depletion induced by wildfire aerosol |
title_short |
Chlorine activation and enhanced ozone depletion induced by wildfire aerosol |
title_full |
Chlorine activation and enhanced ozone depletion induced by wildfire aerosol |
title_fullStr |
Chlorine activation and enhanced ozone depletion induced by wildfire aerosol |
title_full_unstemmed |
Chlorine activation and enhanced ozone depletion induced by wildfire aerosol |
title_sort |
chlorine activation and enhanced ozone depletion induced by wildfire aerosol |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05683-0 |
geographic |
Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic |
op_relation |
Nature--Nature--0028-0836--1476-4687 articles:26178 doi:10.1038/s41586-022-05683-0 ark:/85065/d7b28073 |
op_rights |
Copyright 2023 Springer Nature. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05683-0 |
container_title |
Nature |
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615 |
container_issue |
7951 |
container_start_page |
259 |
op_container_end_page |
264 |
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1778532640907853824 |