Stratospheric BrO abundance measured by a balloon-borne submillimeterwave...

Stachnik, R., L. Millán, R. Jarnot, R. Monroe, C. McLinden, K. J. Puk¸¯ıte, M. Shiotani, M. Suzuki, Y. Kasai, F. Goutail, J. P. Pommereau, M. Dorf, and K. Pfeilsticker (2013), Stratospheric BrO abundance measured by a balloon-borne submillimeterwave radiometer, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 3307-3319, doi:10.5194/acp-13-3307-2013.
Abstract: 

Measurements of mixing ratio profiles of stratospheric bromine monoxide (BrO) were made using observations of BrO rotational line emission at 650.179 GHz by a balloon-borne SIS (superconductorinsulator-superconductor) submillimeterwave heterodyne limb sounder (SLS). The balloon was launched from Ft. Sumner, New Mexico (34◦ N) on 22 September 2011. Peak mid-day BrO abundance varied from 16 ± 2 ppt at 34 km to 6 ± 4 ppt at 16 km. Corresponding estimates of total inorganic bromine (Bry ), derived from BrO vmr (volume mixing ratio) using a photochemical box model, were 21 ± 3 ppt and 11 ± 5 ppt, respectively. Inferred Bry abundance exceeds that attributable solely to decomposition of long-lived methyl bromide and other halons, and is consistent with a contribution from bromine-containing very short lived substances, BrVSLS , of 4 ppt to 8 ppt. These

y results for BrO and Bry were compared with, and found to be in good agreement with, those of other recent balloon-borne and satellite instruments.

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Research Program: 
Upper Atmosphere Research Program (UARP)