Stratospheric BrO abundance measured by a balloon-borne submillimeterwave radiometer

Robert A. Stachnik (1) , Luis Millán (1) , Robert Jarnot (1) , R. Monroe (1) , C. Mclinden (2) , S. Kühl (3) , J. Pukīte (3) , M. Shiotani (4) , M. Suzuki (5) , Y. Kasai (6) , Florence Goutail (7) , Jean-Pierre Pommereau (7) , M. Dorf (8) , K. Pfeilsticker (8)

1 JPL - Jet Propulsion Laboratory
2 Air Quality Research Division [Toronto]
3 MPIC - Max Planck Institute for Chemistry
4 RISH - Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere
5 ISAS - Institute of Space and Astronautical Science
6 NICT - National Institute of Information and Communications Technology [Tokyo]
7 STRATO - LATMOS
8 Institut für Umweltphysik [Heidelberg]

Measurements of mixing ratio profiles of stratospheric bromine monoxide (BrO) were made using observations of BrO otational line emission at 650.179 GHz by a balloon-borne SIS (superconductor-insulator-superconductor) submillimeterwave heterodyne receiver. 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, BryVSLS, of 4 ppt to 8 ppt. These 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.

Domaines: Physique Atmosphérique et Océanique [physics.ao-ph]

Robert A. Stachnik, Luis Millán, Robert Jarnot, R. Monroe, C. Mclinden, et al.. Stratospheric BrO abundance measured by a balloon-borne submillimeterwave radiometer. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 2013, 13 (6), pp.3307-3319. ⟨10.5194/acp-13-3307-2013⟩. ⟨hal-00749250⟩