Nucleation of nitric acid hydrates in polar stratospheric clouds  by meteoric material

James, Alexander D.; Brooke, James S. A.; Mangan, Thomas P.; Whale, Thomas F.; Plane, J. M. C.; Murray, Benjamin J.

doi:10.5194/acp-18-4519-2018

Cited by 28 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…Based largely on these arguments, meteoritic material emerged as a suitable trigger for the formation of low number density NAT or synoptic-scale ice clouds in the stratosphere. This was recently confirmed by James et al (2018), who showed that proxies for both meteoritic materials, smoke particles (amorphous silica analogs: fumed silica and fused quartz) and meteoritic fragments (ground meteorite analogs), have a capacity to nucleate TRITSCHER ET AL. HNO 3 hydrates.…”

Section: The Possible Origin Of Heterogeneous Nat Nucleimentioning

confidence: 72%

Polar Stratospheric Clouds: Satellite Observations, Processes, and Role in Ozone Depletion

Tritscher

Pitts

Poole

et al. 2021

Reviews of Geophysics

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Polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) play important roles in stratospheric ozone depletion during winter and spring at high latitudes (e.g., the Antarctic ozone hole). PSC particles provide sites for heterogeneous reactions that convert stable chlorine reservoir species to radicals that destroy ozone catalytically. PSCs also prolong ozone depletion by delaying chlorine deactivation through the removal of gas-phase HNO 3 and H 2 O by sedimentation of large nitric acid trihydrate (NAT) and ice particles. Contemporary observations by the spaceborne instruments Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS), Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS), and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) have provided an unprecedented polar vortex-wide climatological view of PSC occurrence and composition in both hemispheres. These data have spurred advances in our understanding of PSC formation and related dynamical processes, especially the firm evidence of widespread heterogeneous nucleation of both NAT and ice PSC particles, perhaps on nuclei of meteoritic origin. Heterogeneous chlorine activation appears to be well understood. Reaction coefficients on/in liquid droplets have been measured accurately, and while uncertainties remain for reactions on solid NAT and ice particles, they are considered relatively unimportant since under most conditions chlorine activation occurs on/in liquid droplets. There have been notable advances in the ability of chemical transport and chemistry-climate models to reproduce PSC temporal/spatial distributions and composition observed from space. Continued spaceborne PSC observations will facilitate further improvements in the representation of PSC processes in global models and enable more accurate projections of the evolution of polar ozone and the global ozone layer as climate changes.Plain Language Summary Polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) occur during winter and early spring in the polar stratosphere, when temperatures are low enough to enable cloud formation despite the extremely dry conditions. Ground-based PSC sightings date back to the late 19th century, but they were little more than a scientific curiosity until the discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole in 1985. Soon thereafter, it was shown that PSCs play a crucial role in converting stable halogen (mainly chlorine) species of anthropogenic origin into reactive gases that rapidly destroy ozone. Considerable progress was made over the next two decades in quantifying these processes through laboratory studies, field campaigns, and limited spaceborne observations. We are now reaping the benefits of new PSC observations over the entire polar regions from three complementary 21st century spaceborne instruments. This study reviews these instruments and highlights new findings on PSC occurrence and composition. These datasets have also triggered advances in understanding how PSCs form and the influence of atmospheric dynamics, as well as improvements in how detailed cloud processes are approximated in global models. Thi...

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Section: The Possible Origin Of Heterogeneous Nat Nucleimentioning

confidence: 72%

Polar Stratospheric Clouds: Satellite Observations, Processes, and Role in Ozone Depletion

Tritscher

Pitts

Poole

et al. 2021

Reviews of Geophysics

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“…The HNO 3 dataset has a vertical resolution of approximately 3-4 km, while the H 2 O and O 3 datasets have a vertical resolution of 2.5 to 3 km. The accuracy of the MLS measurements is 1-2 ppbv for HNO 3 , 4 %-7 % for H 2 O (Read et al, 2007;Lambert et al, 2007) and 8 % for stratospheric O 3 (Jiang et al, 2007). Detailed information and a precise description of the dataset can be found in Livesey et al (2018).…”

Section: Mls Observationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of polar stratospheric clouds in the global chemistry–climate model SOCOLv3.1 by comparison with CALIPSO spaceborne lidar measurements

et al. 2021

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Abstract. Polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) contribute to catalytic ozone destruction by providing surfaces for the conversion of inert chlorine species into active forms and by denitrification. The latter describes the removal of HNO3 from the stratosphere by sedimenting PSC particles, which hinders chlorine deactivation by the formation of reservoir species. Therefore, an accurate representation of PSCs in chemistry–climate models (CCMs) is of great importance to correctly simulate polar ozone concentrations. Here, we evaluate PSCs as simulated by the CCM SOCOLv3.1 for the Antarctic winters 2006, 2007 and 2010 by comparison with backscatter measurements by CALIOP on board the CALIPSO satellite. The year 2007 represents a typical Antarctic winter, while 2006 and 2010 are characterized by above- and below-average PSC occurrence. The model considers supercooled ternary solution (STS) droplets, nitric acid trihydrate (NAT) particles, water ice particles and mixtures thereof. PSCs are parameterized in terms of temperature and partial pressures of HNO3 and H2O, assuming equilibrium between the gas and particulate phase. The PSC scheme involves a set of prescribed microphysical parameters, namely ice number density, NAT particle radius and maximum NAT number density. In this study, we test and optimize the parameter settings through several sensitivity simulations. The choice of the value for the ice number density affects simulated optical properties and dehydration, while modifying the NAT parameters impacts stratospheric composition via HNO3 uptake and denitrification. Depending on the NAT parameters, reasonable denitrification can be modeled. However, its impact on ozone loss is minor. The best agreement with the CALIOP optical properties and observed denitrification was for this case study found with the ice number density increased from the hitherto used value of 0.01 to 0.05 cm−3 and the maximum NAT number density from 5×10-4 to 1×10-3 cm−3. The NAT radius was kept at the original value of 5 µm. The new parameterization reflects the higher importance attributed to heterogeneous nucleation of ice and NAT particles following recent new data evaluations of the state-of-the-art CALIOP measurements. A cold temperature bias in the polar lower stratosphere results in an overestimated PSC areal coverage in SOCOLv3.1 by up to 40 %. Offsetting this cold bias by +3 K delays the onset of ozone depletion by about 2 weeks, which improves the agreement with observations. Furthermore, the occurrence of mountain-wave-induced ice, as observed mainly over the Antarctic Peninsula, is continuously underestimated in the model due to the coarse model resolution (T42L39) and the fixed ice number density. Nevertheless, we find overall good temporal and spatial agreement between modeled and observed PSC occurrence and composition. This work confirms previous studies indicating that simplified PSC schemes, which avoid nucleation and growth calculations in sophisticated but time-consuming microphysical process models, may also achieve good approximations of the fundamental properties of PSCs needed in CCMs.

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“…MSPs are formed by the ablation of meteors or interplanetary dust particles in the upper atmosphere, as was originally hypothesized by Rosinski and Snow (1961). The ablation process causes meteoric vapours to be released, mostly at altitudes around 90 km in the mesopause region, during entry into the atmosphere at high velocities (Kalashnikova et al, 2000;Plane, 2003). Hereafter, such vapours undergo gas phase reactions with atmospheric gases and ions and ultimately recondense, leading to tiny aerosol particles (Plane, Figure 1.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

A novel rocket-borne ion mass spectrometer with large mass range: instrument description and first-flight results

et al. 2021

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Abstract. We present a novel rocket-borne ion mass spectrometer named ROMARA (ROcket-borne MAss spectrometer for Research in the Atmosphere) for measuring atmospheric positive and negative ions (atomic, molecular and cluster ions) and positively and negatively charged meteor smoke particles. Our ROMARA instrument has, compared to previous rocket-borne ion mass spectrometers, a markedly larger mass range of up to m/z 2000 and a larger sensitivity, particularly for meteor smoke particle detection. The major objectives of this first ROMARA flight included the following: a functional test of the ROMARA instrument, measurements between 55 and 121 km in the mass range of atmospheric positive and negative ions, a first attempt to conduct mass spectrometric measurements in the mass range of meteor smoke particles with mass-to-charge ratios up to m/z 2000, and measurements inside a polar mesospheric winter echo layer as detected by ground-based radar. Our ROMARA measurements took place on the Arctic island of Andøya, Norway, at around noon in April 2018 and represented an integral part of the polar mesospheric winter radar echo (PMWE) rocket campaign. During the rocket flight, ROMARA was operated in a measurement mode, offering maximum sensitivity and the ability to qualitatively detect total ion signatures even beyond its mass-resolving mass range. On this first ROMARA flight we were able to meet all of our objectives. We detected atmospheric species including positive atomic, molecular and cluster ions along with negative molecular ions up to about m/z 100. Above m/z 2000, ROMARA measured strong negative-ion signatures, which are likely due to negatively charged meteor smoke particles.

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Nucleation of nitric acid hydrates in polar stratospheric clouds by meteoric material

Cited by 28 publications

References 59 publications

Polar Stratospheric Clouds: Satellite Observations, Processes, and Role in Ozone Depletion

Polar Stratospheric Clouds: Satellite Observations, Processes, and Role in Ozone Depletion

Evaluation of polar stratospheric clouds in the global chemistry–climate model SOCOLv3.1 by comparison with CALIPSO spaceborne lidar measurements

A novel rocket-borne ion mass spectrometer with large mass range: instrument description and first-flight results

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