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Ace-Fts Observations Of Acetonitrile In The Lower Stratosphere, J. J. Harrison, P. F. Bernath
Ace-Fts Observations Of Acetonitrile In The Lower Stratosphere, J. J. Harrison, P. F. Bernath
Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications
This work reports the first infrared satellite remote-sensing measurements of acetonitrile (CH3CN) in the Earth's atmosphere using solar occultation measurements made by the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment Fourier transform spectrometer (ACE-FTS) between 2004 and 2011. The retrieval scheme uses new quantitative laboratory spectroscopic measurements of acetonitrile (Harrison and Bernath, 2012). Although individual ACE-FTS profile measurements are dominated by measurement noise, median profiles in 10 degrees latitude bins show a steady decline in volume mixing ratio from similar to 150 ppt (parts per trillion) at 11.5 km to < 40 ppt at 25.5-29.5 km. These new measurements agree well with the scant available air-and balloon-borne data in the lower stratosphere. An acetonitrile stratospheric lifetime of 73 ± 20 yr has been determined.
Observations Of Peroxyacetyl Nitrate (Pan) In The Upper Troposphere By The Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment-Fourier Transform Spectrometer (Ace-Fts), K. A. Tereszchuk, D. P. Moore, J. J. Harrison, C. D. Boone, M. Park, J. J. Remedios, W. J. Randel, P. F. Bernath
Observations Of Peroxyacetyl Nitrate (Pan) In The Upper Troposphere By The Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment-Fourier Transform Spectrometer (Ace-Fts), K. A. Tereszchuk, D. P. Moore, J. J. Harrison, C. D. Boone, M. Park, J. J. Remedios, W. J. Randel, P. F. Bernath
Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications
Peroxyacetyl nitrate (CH3CO·O2NO2, abbreviated as PAN) is a trace molecular species present in the troposphere and lower stratosphere due primarily to pollution from fuel combustion and the pyrogenic outflows from biomass burning. In the lower troposphere, PAN has a relatively short lifetime and is principally destroyed within a few hours through thermolysis, but it can act as a reservoir and carrier of NOx in the colder temperatures of the upper troposphere, where UV photolysis becomes the dominant loss mechanism. Pyroconvective updrafts from large biomass burning events can inject PAN into the upper troposphere …