Abstract
The biogeochemical cycling of nitrous oxide plays an important role in greenhouse forcing and ozone regulation. Laboratory studies of N2O:N2 mixtures irradiated between 193–207 nm reveal a significant enrichment of the residual heavy nitrous oxide isotopomers. The isotopic signatures resulting from photolysis are well modeled by an irreversible Rayleigh distillation process, with large enrichment factors of ε15,18(193 nm) = −18.4,‐14.5 per mil and ε15,18(207 nm) = −48.7,‐46.0 per mil. These results, when combined with diffusive mixing processes, have the potential to explain the stratospheric enrichments previously observed.
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