Remote sounding of minor constituents in the stratosphere and heterogeneous reactions of gases at solid interfaces

• Main Authors: Varotsos, C.A., Cracknell, A.P.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 1994
• Subjects: Arctic; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://pergamos.lib.uoa.gr/uoa/dl/object/uoadl:3018905

Various remote sounding techniques of minor constituents of the stratosphere may be carried out, especially during the Antarctic and Arctic winters, where heterogeneous reactions of gases at solid interfaces play an important role in ozone destruction. After the EI Chichon volcanic eruption in 1982 the significant decreases in NO, NO2 and increases in HCI were not consistent with known chemistry unless CINO3 could be converted to HCI on the solid NaCI (observed to be present in the EI Chichon aerosols). Recently the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 has led to a large (factor of ten) increase in stratospheric aerosol. The biggest chemical impact evident in the measurements made during the European Arctic Stratospheric Ozone Experiment (EASOE) was the reduction of NO and NO2. Given that the chemical behaviour of the solid NaCI is most likely associated with its mechanical properties, a recently proposed thermodynamical model is employed to show the important role of the heterogeneous reactions with NaCI in the volcanic aerosols. These reactions might also prove to be critical in the inversion algorithms usually applied to satellite measurements. © 1994 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.