Far‐infrared measurement of stratospheric carbon monoxide

Abstract

The stratospheric vertical distribution of CO is obtained from balloon based far infrared limb thermal emission spectra by analyzing several limb sequences of the R8 and R1 spectral lines at 34.588 cm−1 and 49.932 cm−1 respectively. This constitutes the first determination of the stratospheric CO profile from infrared thermal emission spectra. The results indicating 24.6±7.6 ppbv at 21 km and 34.4±10.1 ppbv at 37 km are compared with the remote sensing and in‐situ measurements by other groups and with photochemical‐dynamical model calculations.

Stratospheric Chemistry

“…The ClO measurements were basically consistent with other earlier measurements, and the upper limits on BrO were consistent with ∼ 15 pptv of total bromine in the stratosphere. The altitude profile of ClO has also been obtained by Carli et al . [1988] from submillimeter measurements, and it is similar to in situ and other remote results, and aircraft measurements by Brune et al .…”