scholarly journals The role of sulfur dioxide in stratospheric aerosol formation evaluated by using in situ measurements in the tropical lower stratosphere

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (9) ◽  
pp. 4280-4286 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. W. Rollins ◽  
T. D. Thornberry ◽  
L. A. Watts ◽  
P. Yu ◽  
K. H. Rosenlof ◽  
...  
Nature ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 363 (6429) ◽  
pp. 509-514 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. W. Fahey ◽  
S. R. Kawa ◽  
E. L. Woodbridge ◽  
P. Tin ◽  
J. C. Wilson ◽  
...  

1997 ◽  
Vol 20 (11) ◽  
pp. 2089-2095 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry Deshler ◽  
J.Ben Liley ◽  
Gregory Bodeker ◽  
W.Andrew Matthews ◽  
David J Hoffmann

2002 ◽  
Vol 107 (D5) ◽  
pp. SOL 47-1-SOL 47-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. A. Viggiano ◽  
D. E. Hunton ◽  
Thomas M. Miller ◽  
John O. Ballenthin

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 7061-7079 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.-B. Renard ◽  
S. N. Tripathi ◽  
M. Michael ◽  
A. Rawal ◽  
G. Berthet ◽  
...  

Abstract. Electrified aerosols have been observed in the lower troposphere and in the mesosphere, but have never been detected in the stratosphere and upper troposphere. We present measurements of aerosols during a balloon flight to an altitude of ~24 km. The measurements were performed with an improved version of the STAC aerosol counter dedicated to the search for charged aerosols. It is found that most of the aerosols are charged in the upper troposphere for altitudes below 10 km and in the stratosphere for altitudes above 20 km. On the contrary, the aerosols seem to be uncharged between 10 km and 20 km. Model calculations are used to quantify the electrification of the aerosols with a stratospheric aerosol-ion model. The percentages of charged aerosols obtained with model calculations are in excellent agreement with the observations below 10 km and above 20 km. On the other hand, the model cannot reproduce the absence of detected electrification in the lower stratosphere, such that a distinct unknown process in this altitude range inhibits electrification. The presence of sporadic transient layers of electrified aerosol in the upper troposphere and in the stratosphere could have significant implications for sprite formation.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Minqiang Zhou ◽  
Bavo Langerock ◽  
Corinne Vigouroux ◽  
Pucai Wang ◽  
Christian Hermans ◽  
...  

Abstract. SF6 total columns are successfully retrieved from FTIR measurements (Saint Denis and Maïdo) at Réunion Island (21° S, 55° E) between 2004–2016 using the SFIT4 algorithm: the retrieval strategy and the error budget are presented. The FTIR SF6 retrieval has independent information in only one individual layer, covering the whole troposphere and the lower stratosphere. The trend of SF6 is analysed based on the FTIR retrieved dry air column-averaged mole fractions (XSF6) at Réunion Island, the in-situ measurements at America Samoa (SMO) and the collocated satellite measurements (MIPAS and ACE-FTS) in the southern tropics. The SF6 annual growth rate from FTIR retrievals is 0.265 ± 0.013 pptv/year for 2004–2016, which is slightly weaker than that from the SMO in-situ measurements (0.285 ± 0.002 pptv/year) for the same time period. The SF6 trend in the troposphere from MIPAS and ACE-FTS observations is also close to the ones from the FTIR retrievals and the SMO in-situ measurements.


2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 24587-24628 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Borrmann ◽  
D. Kunkel ◽  
R. Weigel ◽  
A. Minikin ◽  
T. Deshler ◽  
...  

Abstract. Processes occurring in the tropical upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UT/LS) are of importance for the global climate, for the stratospheric dynamics and air chemistry, and they influence the global distribution of water vapour, trace gases and aerosols. The mechanisms underlying cloud formation and variability in the UT/LS are of scientific concern as these still are not adequately described and quantified by numerical models. Part of the reasons for this is the scarcity of detailed in-situ measurements in particular from the Tropical Transition Layer (TTL) within the UT/LS. In this contribution we provide measurements of particle number densities and the amounts of non-volatile particles in the submicron size range present in the UT/LS over Southern Brazil, West Africa, and Northern Australia. The data were collected in-situ on board of the Russian high altitude research aircraft M-55 "Geophysica" using the specialised COPAS (COndensation PArticle counting System) instrument during the TROCCINOX (Araçatuba, Brazil, February 2005), the SCOUT-O3 (Darwin, Australia, December 2005), and SCOUT-AMMA (Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, August 2006) campaigns. The vertical profiles obtained are compared to those from previous measurements from the NASA DC-8 and NASA WB-57F over Costa Rica and other tropical locations between 1999 and 2007. The number density of the submicron particles as function of altitude was found to be remarkably constant (even back to 1987) over the tropical UT/LS altitude band such that a parameterisation suitable for models can be extracted from the measurements. At altitudes corresponding to potential temperatures above 430 K a slight increase of the number densities from 2005/2006 results from the data in comparison to the 1987 to 2007 measurements. The origins of this increase are unknown. By contrast the data from Northern hemispheric mid latitudes do not exhibit such an increase between 1999 and 2006. Vertical profiles of the non-volatile fraction of the submicron particles were also measured by a COPAS channel and are presented here. The resulting profiles of the non-volatile number density fraction show a pronounced maximum of 50% in the tropical TTL over Australia and West Africa. Below and above this fraction is much lower attaining values of 10% and smaller. In the lower stratosphere the fine particles mostly consist of sulphuric acid which is reflected in the low numbers of non-volatile residues measured by COPAS. Without detailed chemical composition measurements the reason for the increase of non-volatile particle fractions cannot yet be given. The long distance transfer flights to Brazil, Australia and West-Africa were executed during a time window of 17 months within a period of relative volcanic quiescence. Thus the data measured during these transfers represent a "snapshot picture" documenting the status of a significant part of the global UT/LS aerosol (with sizes below 1 μm) at low concentration levels 15 years after the last major (i.e., the 1991 Mount Pinatubo) eruption. The corresponding latitudinal distributions of the measured particle number densities are also presented in this paper in order to provide input on the UT/LS background aerosol for modelling purposes.


2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (9) ◽  
pp. 5921-5929 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shailesh K. Kharol ◽  
Chris A. McLinden ◽  
Christopher E. Sioris ◽  
Mark W. Shephard ◽  
Vitali Fioletov ◽  
...  

Abstract. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) has a significant impact on the environment and human health. We estimated ground-level sulfur dioxide (SO2) concentrations from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) using SO2 profiles from the Global Environmental Multi-scale – Modelling Air quality and CHemistry (GEM-MACH) model over North America for the period of 2005–2015. OMI-derived ground-level SO2 concentrations (r = 0. 61) and trends (r = 0. 74) correlated well with coincident in situ measurements from air quality networks over North America. We found a strong decreasing trend in coincidently sampled ground-level SO2 from OMI (−81 ± 19 %) and in situ measurements (−86 ± 13 %) over the eastern US for the period of 2005–2015, which reflects the implementation of stricter pollution control laws, including flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) devices in power plants. The spatially and temporally contiguous OMI-derived ground-level SO2 concentrations can be used to assess the impact of long-term exposure to SO2 on the health of humans and the environment.


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