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Catastrophic loss of stratospheric ozone in dense volcanic cloudsRapid, localized loss of ozone is predicted to occur in the midlatitude and tropical stratosphere in the presence of very large concentrations of sulfate aerosols. Volcanic eruptions can increase the effective surface area of sulfuric acid so that heterogeneous reactions involving ClONO2, and secondarily N2O5, are able to suppress NO(x) abundances by more than a factor of 10 relative to gas phase chemistry. When NO(x) levels fall below a threshold, e.g., 0.6 ppb at 24 km in mid-latitudes, the chlorine-catalyzed loss of O3 proceeds at rates comparable to those during the formation of the Antarctic ozone hole, more than 50 ppb per day. If such losses occurred following the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the most volcanically perturbed regions over the tropics and mid-latitudes, this model predicts that they are driven primarily by the suppression of NO(x) below these critical levels. The increase in stratospheric chlorine since El Chichon has made Mount Pinatubo more than twice as effective in causing rapid O3 loss.
Document ID
19920063183
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Prather, Michael
(California, University Irvine, United States)
Date Acquired
August 15, 2013
Publication Date
June 20, 1992
Publication Information
Publication: Journal of Geophysical Research
Volume: 97
Issue: D9, J
ISSN: 0148-0227
Subject Category
Geophysics
Accession Number
92A45807
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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