Laboratory studies on the reactions between chlorine, sulfur dioxide, and oxygen - Implications for the Venus stratosphere

Fourier transform IR spectrophotometry is used to monitor the reactants and products in a Venus stratosphere simulation study involving the photolysis of mixtures of Cl2 and SO2, with and without O2 present in an atmosphere of N2. When several speculative reactions inferred from these experiments are incorporated by the Yung and DeMore (1982) model of Venus stratospheric chemistry, it emerges that SO2Cl2 is a key reservoir species for chlorine, and that the reaction between Cl and SO2 furnishes an important cycle for the destruction of O2 and the conversion of SO2 to H2SO4, thereby providing a possible solution to the photochemistry of the Venus stratosphere.