I Situ Stratospheric Ozone Measurements.
Abstract
In situ measurements of stratospheric ozone have been made from both balloon and ER-2 aircraft platforms. The ozone instrument uses the absorption of 253.7-nm radiation to measure ozone with a total uncertainty of +/- 5% (including statistical and systematic errors). During March 1992, a balloon gondola was flown to 30 km over Greenland to investigate the chemistry of inorganic chlorine. Simultaneous measurements of ozone, ClO, and NO are used to test our knowledge of the partitioning of the Cl_{rm y} and NO_{rm y} families. Analysis of these profiles demonstrates the importance for the chemistry of the stratosphere of heterogeneous chemistry on sulfate aerosol surfaces. A year later, a similar ozone instrument flew on the ER-2 as part of the Central Equatorial Pacific EXperiment (CEPEX) from Nadi, Fiji. Using a simple photochemical -dynamical model employing climatological cloud cover, we are able to reproduce our ozone measurements, which supports the view that the concentration of ozone in the tropical lower stratosphere is controlled by production and transport, with chemical loss playing an insignificant role. Finally, four mid-latitude ozone profiles obtained during the summers of 1987, 1988, and 1989 are presented. Comparisons with Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment II (SAGE II) ozone data show that, between 25 and 37 km, SAGE II ozone is ~10% higher than the Harvard ozone profiles. Statistical analyses indicate that this is a systematic difference that cannot be explained by atmospheric or instrumental variability. This work also shows that zonal averages of satellite and in situ instruments can be effectively compared when atmospheric flow is predominantly zonal.
- Publication:
-
Ph.D. Thesis
- Pub Date:
- 1994
- Bibcode:
- 1994PhDT........37D
- Keywords:
-
- Chemistry: General; Environmental Sciences; Geochemistry; Physics: Atmospheric Science