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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 1, NUMBER 6, DECEMBER 1988

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS...
ARCTIC OZONE

Item #d88dec23

"Observations of the Nighttime Abundance of OClO in the Winter Stratosphere Above Thule, Greenland," S. Solomon (Aeronomy Lab., NOAA/ERL, Boulder CO 80303), G.H. Mount et al., Science, 242(4878), 550-555, Oct. 28, 1988.

Observations made using direct light from the moon in February 1988 revealed nighttime chlorine dioxide abundances less than those obtained in Antarctica but exceeding model predictions based on homogeneous (gas-phase) chemistry by about a factor of 10. The observed time scale for formation of OClO after sunset strongly supports the current understanding of its diurnal chemistry, suggesting heterogeneous (surface) reactions due to polar stratospheric clouds can occur in the Arctic, providing a mechanism for possible Arctic ozone destruction.

Item #d88dec24

"Observations of Stratospheric NO2 and O3 at Thule, Greenland," G.H. Mount (address immed. above), S. Solomon et al., ibid., 555-558.

Total column abundances were measured in February using scattered sunlight and direct light from the moon. Lower O3 values were observed when the center of the Arctic polar vortex was closest to Thule, probably indicating that O3 levels decrease due to dynamical processes near the vortex center, a fact that should be considered when deriving O3 trends. NO2 levels were also lowest in the vortex center, suggesting significant heterogeneous photochemistry takes place during the Arctic winter as it does in the Antarctic.

Item #d88dec25

"In Situ Northern Mid-Latitude Observations of ClO, O3, and BrO in the Wintertime Lower Stratosphere," W.H. Brune (Dept. Meteorol., Penn. State Univ., Univ. Pk. PA 16802), D.W. Toohey et al., ibid., 558-562.

Several related atmospheric species were measured in the lower stratosphere with instruments mounted on the NASA ER-2 aircraft in February 1988, to test photochemical theories linking chlorofluorocarbon derivatives to O3 depletion at high latitudes in springtime. On the flight from Moffett Field, California to Great Slave Lake, Canada, levels of ClO and O3 were highly correlated at all scales, and both showed an abrupt change in character at 54 ·N latitude.