References

ACP

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

ACP

1680-7324

Copernicus GmbH

Göttingen, Germany

10.5194/acp-7-6075-2007

Balloon-borne radiometer measurements of Northern Hemisphere mid-latitude stratospheric HNO3 profiles spanning 12 years

Toohey

¹ Quine

B. M.

² Strong

¹ Bernath

P. F.

³ ⁴ Boone

C. D.

⁴ Jonsson

A. I.

¹ McElroy

C. T.

⁶ Walker

K. A.

¹ ⁴ Wunch

¹ ⁵

Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 1A7, Canada

School of Engineering, York University, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada

Department of Chemistry, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, UK

Department of Chemistry, Waterloo University, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada

California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91125, USA

Environment Canada, Downsview, ON, M3H 5T4, Canada

11 12 2007

7 23 6075 6084

This is an open-access article ditributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

This article is available from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/7/6075/2007/acp-7-6075-2007.html

The full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/7/6075/2007/acp-7-6075-2007.pdf

Low-resolution atmospheric thermal emission spectra collected by balloon-borne radiometers over the time span of 1990–2002 are used to retrieve vertical profiles of HNO3, CFC-11 and CFC-12 volume mixing ratios between approximately 10 and 35 km altitude. All of the data analyzed have been collected from launches from a Northern Hemisphere mid-latitude site, during late summer, when stratospheric dynamic variability is at a minimum. The retrieval technique incorporates detailed forward modeling of the instrument and the radiative properties of the atmosphere, and obtains a best fit between modeled and measured spectra through a combination of onion-peeling and optimization steps. The retrieved HNO3 profiles are consistent over the 12-year period, and are consistent with recent measurements by the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment-Fourier transform spectrometer satellite instrument. We therefore find no evidence of long-term changes in the HNO3 summer mid-latitude profile, although the uncertainty of our measurements precludes a conclusive trend analysis.

References 1

Abrams, M., Toon, G., and Schindler, R.: Practical example of the correction of Fourier-transform spectra for detector nonlinearity, Appl. Optics, 33, 6307–6314, 1994.

Beagley, S R., de~Grandpré, J., Koshyk, J N., McFarlane, N A., and Shepherd, T G.: Radiative-dynamical climatology of the first-generation Canadian Middle Atmosphere Model, Atmos. Ocean, 35, 293–331, 1997.

Bernath, P F., McElroy, C T., Abrams, M C., Boone, C D., Butler, M., Camy-Peyret, C., Carleer, M., Clerbaux, C., Coheur, P.-F., Colin, R., DeCola, P., DeMazière, M., Drummond, J R., Dufour, D., Evans, W. F J., Fast, H., Fussen, D., Gilbert, K., Jennings, D E., Llewellyn, E J., Lowe, R P., Mahieu, E., McConnell, J C., McHugh, M., McLeod, S D., Michaud, R., Midwinter, C., Nassar, R., Nichitiu, F., Nowlan, C., Rinsland, C P., Rochon, Y J., Rowlands, N., Semeniuk, K., Simon, P., Skelton, R., Sloan, J J., Soucy, M.-A., Strong, K., Tremblay, P., Turnbull, D., Walker, K A., Walkty, I., Wardle, D A., Wehrle, V., Zander, R., and Zou, J.: Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE): Mission overview, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L15S01, doi:10.1029/2005GL022386, 2005.

Boone, C D., Nassar, R., Walker, K A., Rochon, Y., McLeod, S D., Rinsland, C P., and Bernath, P F.: Retrievals for the atmospheric chemistry experiment Fourier-transform spectrometer, Appl. Optics, 44, 7218–7231, 2005.

Borrello, S., Kinch, M., and LaMont, D.: Photoconductive HgCdTe Detector Performance With Background Variations, Infrared Phys., 17, 121–125, 1977.

de~Grandpré, J., Sandilands, J W., Mcconnell, J C., Beagley, S R., Croteau, P C., and Danilin, M Y.: Canadian Middle Atmosphere Model: Preliminary results from the chemical transport module, Atmos. Ocean, 35, 385–431, 1997.

Evans, W. F J., Lin, C I., and Midwinter, C L.: The Altitude Distribution of Nitric Acid at Churchill, Atmosphere, 14, 172–179, 1976.

Evans, W F J., Kerr, J B., McElroy, C T., Obrien, R S., Wardle, D I., and Ridley, B A.: The odd nitrogen mixing ratio in the stratosphere, Geophys. Res. Lett., 4, 235–238, 1977.

Evans, W F J., Kerr, J V., McElroy, C T., O'Brien, R S., and McConnell, J C.: Measurements of NO2 and HNO3 during a stratospheric warming at 54 in February 1979, Geophys. Res. Lett., 9, 493–496, 1982.

Eyring, V., Waugh, D W., Bodeker, G E., Cordero, E., Akiyoshi, H., Austin, J., Beagley, S R., Boville, B., Braesicke, P., Brühl, C., Butchart, N., Chipperfield, M P., Dameris, M., Deckert, R., Deushi, M., Frith, S M., Garcia, R R., Gettelman, A., Giorgetta, M., Kinnison, D E., Mancini, E., Manzini, E., Marsh, D R., Matthes, S., Nagashima, T., Newman, P A., Nielsen, J E., Pawson, S., Pitari, G., Plummer, D A., Rozanov, E., Schraner, M., Scinocca, J F., Semeniuk, K., Shepherd, T G., Shibata, K., Steil, B., Stolarski, R., Tian, W., and Yoshiki, M.: Multi-model projections of stratospheric ozone in the 21st century, J. Geophys. Res., 112, \doi10.1029/2006JD008332, 2007.

Eyring, V., Butchart, N., Waugh, D W., Akiyoshi, H., Austin, J., Bekki, S., Bodeker, G E., Boville, B A., Brühl, C., Chipperfield, M P., et al.: Assessment of temperature, trace species, and ozone in chemistry-climate model simulations of the recent past, J. Geophys. Res., 111, \doi10.1029/2006JD007327, 2006.

Flaud, J.-M., Brizzi, G., Carlotti, M., Perrin, A., and Ridolfi, M.: MIPAS database: Validation of HNO3 line parameters using MIPAS satellite measurements, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 6, 5037–5048, 2006.

Friedl-Vallon, F., Maucher, G., Seefeldner, M., Trieschmann, O., Kleinert, A., Lengel, A., Keim, C., Oelhaf, H., and Fischer, H.: Design and Characterization of the Balloon-Borne Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS-B2), Appl. Optics, 43, 3335–3355, 2004.

Houghton, J T.: The Physics of Atmospheres, Cambridge University Press, 1986.

Irion, F W., Gunson, M R., Toon, G C., Chang, A Y., Eldering, A., Mahieu, E., Manney, G L., Michelsen, H A., Moyer, E J., Newchurch, M J., et~al.: Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy (ATMOS) Experiment Version 3 data retrievals, Appl. Optics, 41, 6968–6979, 2002.

Jones, D R., Perttunen, C D., and Stuckman, B E.: Lipschitzian optimization without the Lipschitz constant, J. Optimiz. Theory App., 79, 157–181, 1993.

McLinden, C A., Olsen, S C., Prather, M J., and Liley, J B.: Understanding trends in stratospheric NOy and NO2, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 27 787–27 793, 2001.

Murcray, D G., Kyle, T G., Murcray, F H., and Williams, W J.: Nitric acid and nitric oxide in the lower stratosphere, Nature, 218, 78–79, 1968.

Murcray, D G., Goldman, A., Csoeke-poeckh, A., Murcray, F H., Williams, W J., and Stocker, R N.: Nitric acid distribution in the stratosphere, J. Geophys. Res., 78, 7033–7038, 1973.

Murcray, D G., Barker, D B., Brooks, J N., Goldman, A., and Williams, W J.: Seasonal and latitudinal variation of the stratospheric concentration of HNO3, Geophys. Res. Lett., 2, 223–225, 1975.

Pick, D R. and Houghton, J T.: Measurements of atmospheric infrared emission with a balloon-borne multifilter radiometer, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 95, 535–543, 1969.

Prather, M J., McElroy, M B., and Wofsy, S C.: Reductions in ozone at high concentrations of stratospheric halogens, Nature, 312, 227–231, 1984.

Quine, B M. and Drummond, J R.: GENSPECT: A new generation line-by-line code with a bounded interpolation accuracy, J. Quant. Spectrosc. Ra., 74, 147–165, 2002.

Quine, B M., Toohey, M., Drummond, J R., Strong, K., Wunch, D., Midwinter, C., and McElroy, C T.: The Concentration Profile of Nitric Acid and Other Species over Saskatchewan in August 1998: Retrieval from Data Recorded by Thermal-Emission Radiometry, Atmos. Ocean, 43, 361–376, 2005.

Randel, W J., Wu, F., Russel III, J M., and Waters, J.: Space-time patterns of trends in stratospheric constituents derived from UARS measurements, J. Geophys. Res., 104, 3711–3728, 1999.

Richner, H. and Viatte, P.: The Hydrostatic Equation in the Evaluation Algorithm for Radiosonde Data, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 12, 649–656, 1995.

Rinsland, C P., Zander, R., and Demoulin, P.: Ground-based infrared measurements of HNO3 total column abundances: long-term trend and variability, J. Geophys. Res., 96, 9379–9389, 1991.

Rinsland, C P., Weisenstein, D K., Ko, M. K W., Scott, C J., Chiou, L S., Mahieu, E., Zander, R., and Demoulin, P.: Post-Mount Pinatubo eruption ground-based infrared stratospheric cloumn measurements of HNO3, NO and NO2 and their comparison with model calculations, J. Geophys. Res., 108, 4437, doi:10.1029/2002JD002965, 2003.

Rinsland, C P., Boone, C., Nassar, R., Walker, K., Bernath, P., Mahieu, E., Zander, R., McConnell, J C., and Chiou, L.: Trends of HF, HCl, CCl2 F2, CCl3F, CHClF2 (HCFC-22), and SF$_6$ in the lower stratosphere from Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE) and Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy (ATMOS) measurements near 30° N latitude, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, doi:10.1029/2005GL022415, 2005.

Rothman, L S., Jacquemart, D., Barbe, A., Chris~Benner, D., Birk, M., Brown, L R., Carleer, M R., Chackerian, C., Chance, K., Coudert, L H., et~al.: The HITRAN 2004 molecular spectroscopic database, J. Quant. Spectrosc. Ra., 96, 139–204, 2005.

Santee, M L., Manney, G L., Livesey, N J., and Read, W G.: Three-dimensional structure and evolution of stratospheric HNO3 based on UARS Microwave Limb Sounder measurements, J. Geophys. Res., 109, doi:10.1029/2004JD004578, 2004.

Strong, K., Bailak, G., Barton, D., Bassford, M R., Blatherwick, R D., Brown, S., Chartrand, D., Davies, J., Drummond, J R., Fogal, P F., et~al.: Mantra-A Balloon Mission to Study the Odd-Nitrogen Budget of the Stratosphere, Atmos. Ocean, 43, 283–299, 2005.

Toon, G.: The JPL MkIV interferometer, Opt. Photonics News, 2, 19–21, 1991.

Wang, D Y., Höpfner, M., Blom, C E., Ward, W E., Fischer, H., Blumenstock, T., Hase, F., Keim, C., Liu, G Y., Mikuteit, S., Oelhaf, H., Wetzel, G., Cortesi, U., Mencaraglia, F., Bianchini, G., Redaelli, G., Pirre, M., Catoire, V., Huret, N., Vigouroux, C., Mazière, M D., Mahieu, E., Demoulin, P., Wood, S., Smale, D., Jones, N., Nakajima, H., Sugita, T., Urban, J., Murtagh, D., Boone, C D., Bernath, P F., Walker, K A., Kuttippurath, J., Kleinböhl, A., Toon, G., and Piccolo, C.: Validation of MIPAS HNO3 operational data, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 7, 4905–4934, 2007a.

Wang, D Y., Höpfner, M., Tsidu, G M., Stiller, G P., von Clarmann, T., Fischer, H., Blumenstock, T., Glatthor, N., Grabowski, U., Hase, F., et~al.: Validation of nitric acid retrieved by the IMK-IAA processor from MIPAS/ENVISAT measurements, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 7, 721–738, 2007b.

Weatherhead, E C., Reinsel, G C., Cheang, W K., Tiao, G C., Meng, X L., Choi, D., Keller, T., DeLuisi, J., Wuebbles, D J., and Kerr, J B.: Factors affecting the detection of trends- Statistical considerations and applications to environmental data, J. Geophys. Res., 103, 17–149, 1998.

Wunch, D., Tingley, M P., Shepherd, T G., Drummond, J R., Moore, G W K., and Strong, K.: Climatology and predictability of the late summer stratospheric zonal wind turnaround over Vanscoy, Saskatchewan, Atmos. Ocean, 43, 301–313, 2005.