UARS first global N2O5 data sets: Application to a stratospheric warming event in January 1992

Abstract

For the first time, global measurements of N2O5 are available for study. N2O5 has long been a missing link in large‐scale observations of stratospheric nitrogen species, the chemical family that comprises the major global loss cycle for ozone above about 25 km [McElroy et al., 1992]. N2O5 is also an important intermediate in conversion of NOx to HNO3, thus limiting the effect of nitrogen‐catalyzed ozone destruction below about 25 km [Fahey et al., 1993]. The new N2O5 observations come from both the Cryogenic Limb Array Etalon Spectrometer (CLAES) and Improved Stratospheric and Mesospheric Sounder (ISAMS) instruments on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), providing near‐global coverage at high spatial and temporal resolution for almost 20 months. Here we focus on data obtained near 40 km during a stratospheric warming in January 1992. The N2O5 fields show globally coherent structures with large variation in response to global transport coupled with highly temperature dependent chemistry. Comparison of the data with chemistry and transport models indicates that our understanding of processes controlling N2O5 amounts and the interaction with other reactive nitrogen species is largely accurate under most conditions; however, an exceptional disagreement is found in the prolonged polar dark. This example demonstrates the utility of global data to understand the combined effects of chemistry and transport on N2O5 under a wide range of conditions.