Abstract
In the winter of 1994/95 the TRANSALL research aircraft performed several flights in the region of the Arctic vortex during the period of low stratospheric temperatures. The results of simultaneous measurements of HNO3 column amounts by the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) and of aerosol backscatter profiles by the Ozone Lidar EXperiment (OLEX) are presented for two typical flight scenarios across the polar vortex boundary on December 17, 1994 and January 11/12, 1995. On December 17 and January 12, the column amounts of gaseous HNO3 decreased significantly in regions with low stratospheric temperatures. This decrease was correlated with the extent of the polar stratospheric clouds. Depolarisation measurements showed that type Ib PSCs were observed primarily, but equilibrium calculations for H2SO4/HNO3/H2O aerosols seem to underestimate the observed HNO3 sequestering.
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Höpfner, M., Blom, C., Fishcer, H. et al. HNO3 and PSC Measurements from the Transall: Sequestering of HNO3 in the Winter of 1994/95. Journal of Atmospheric Chemistry 30, 61–79 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006082421138
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006082421138