Abstract
It has been known for many years that the middle atmosphere (10 to 100 km) ozone distribution is controlled in part by catalytic cycles of the kind: X + O3 → X + O2 concurrent with XO + O → X + O2, giving the net result O + O3 → 2O2; i.e., a net ozone destruction. The catalyst, X, in these reactions is usually NO, OH, or Cℓ. The reactive N−, H−, and Cℓ− containing gases can be conveniently grouped into chemical families, often referred to as HOy, NOy, and CℓOy, where the main elements are H, OH, HO2, and H2O2 for HOy; N, NO, NO2, HNO3, N2O5, and HNO4 for NOy; and Cℓ, CℓO, HCℓ, HOCℓ, and CℓONO2 for CℓOy. Figure 1 is a simplified chemistry diagram showing catalytic cycles. The time scale for chemical steady state to be established within these families is generally quite short and much less than transport time scales. Thus, theoretical steady-state arguments allow the distribution within a family to be calculated. The odd hydrogen family is important throughout the atmosphere. It dominates the photochemical destruction of ozone above about 45 km, and it is also very important in the lower stratosphere (where the photochemical time scale is long). Furthermore, OH and HO2 are involved in the production and destruction of the important reservoirs HNO3, HNO4, HCℓ, and HOCℓ, which are formed by interactions between chemical families.
© 1990 Optical Society of America
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