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Observation of the Stratospheric NO2 Latitudinal Distribution in the Northern Winter Hemisphere

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Abstract

During a series of flights in the winters 1991/92 to 1994/95 total stratospheric NO2 was measured by means of the DOAS (Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy) technique on board a C160 (Transall) aircraft. In an area covering 60°W to 60°E, and 16°N to 86°N, the total stratospheric NO2 was observed to vary markedly with latitude and season (winter and spring). In the mid-winter Arctic vortex extremely low total stratospheric NO2 (< 3.1014/cm2) was always found, generally larger amounts of NO2 occurred outside the vortex in winter and towards the spring both inside and outside the vortex. This behaviour of stratospheric NO2 can be explained by the denoxification of the wintertime polar stratosphere. Ambient to the vortex in mid-winter however, ‘sudden’ increases of total stratospheric NO2 by about a factor of 3 were observed. These sudden increases in stratospheric NO2 coincide with a change in the wavenumber 2 of the geopotential height at 60°N, which indicates that most likely the events are caused by planetary waves efficiently transporting air masses rich in NOx from lower to higher latitudes. The monitoring of stratospheric NO2, during latitudinal traverses ranging from the Arctic (80°N) to the Subtropics (18°N) in spring also unexpectedly showed a large variability in total stratospheric NO2 at mid-latitudes. Since photochemistry almost certainly can be excluded, it is proposed that the observed variability may be due to the planetary wave activity of the stratospheric surf zone, known to dynamically connect the tropical and the polar stratosphere.

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  1. Institut für Umweltphysik, University of Heidelberg, Germany

    K. Pfeilsticker, F. Erle & U. Platt

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  1. K. Pfeilsticker
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  3. U. Platt
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Pfeilsticker, K., Erle, F. & Platt, U. Observation of the Stratospheric NO2 Latitudinal Distribution in the Northern Winter Hemisphere. Journal of Atmospheric Chemistry 32, 101–120 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006033625952

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