MLS measurements of stratospheric hydrogen cyanide during  the 2015–2016 El Niño event

Pumphrey, Hugh C.; Glatthor, Norbert; Bernath, Peter F.; Boone, Christopher D.; Hannigan, James W.; Ortega, Ivan; Livesey, Nathaniel J.; Read, William G.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-691-2018

Articles | Volume 18, issue 2

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-691-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-691-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 18, issue 2

Research article

|

19 Jan 2018

Research article |

| 19 Jan 2018

MLS measurements of stratospheric hydrogen cyanide during the 2015–2016 El Niño event

Hugh C. Pumphrey, Norbert Glatthor, Peter F. Bernath, Christopher D. Boone, James W. Hannigan, Ivan Ortega, Nathaniel J. Livesey, and William G. Read

Data sets

MLS/Aura Level 2 Hydrogen Cyanide (HCN) Mixing Ratio V004 H. Pumphrey, N. Livesey, and W. Read https://doi.org/10.5067/Aura/MLS/DATA2011

Global Fire Emissions Database, Version 4.1 (GFEDv4), ORNL DAAC J. T. Randerson, G. R. van der Werf, L. Giglio, G. J. Collatz, and P. S. Kasibhatla https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1293

Short summary

The Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) is a satellite instrument that has been measuring the amount of various gases in the atmosphere since 2004. In late 2015 and 2016 it observed unusual amounts of hydrogen cyanide (HCN), a gas produced when vegetation is burned. We compare the MLS observations to similar observations from other instruments. The excess HCN is shown to come from fires in Indonesia. There are more fires than usual in 2015–16 due to a drought caused by an El Niño event.