Laboratory studies of the formation of polar stratospheric clouds: Nitric acid condensation on thin sulfuric acid films

Abstract

Thin sulfuric acid films were exposed to 5 × 10−8 − 8 × 10−7 torr HNO3 and 2 − 3 × 10−4 torr H2O and cooled to temperatures near the ice frost point. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was used to probe the condensed‐phase species during isothermal experiments, and gas pressures were monitored with mass spectrometry. Supercooled liquid sulfuric acid films exposed to HNO3 (6 ≤ SNAT ≤ 114) showed indications of HNO3 uptake to form ternary solutions of approximately 4 wt % HNO3, 38 wt % H2SO4, and 59 wt % H2O, followed by crystallization of nitric acid trihydrate (NAT). NAT crystallization did not initiate significant crystallization of the supercooled H2SO4, but the H2SO4 often crystallized to sulfuric acid tetrahydrate (SAT) upon warming. In contrast, when crystalline SAT films were exposed to HNO3 and water, NAT did not condense within several hours, even at HNO3 saturation ratios of 30 or higher. Calculations of the contact parameter from experimental data indicate that m <0.76 for NAT on SAT. Our film studies suggest that crystalline polar stratospheric cloud (PSC) growth is most easily accomplished when stratospheric sulfate aerosols (SSAs) remain liquid, absorb HNO3, and produce crystalline nitric acid trihydrate via heterogeneous nucleation. If SSAs crystallize to SAT at some point during the winter, nitric acid condensation is hindered, and PSC formation could become more difficult.