Ozone Destruction by Chlorine: The Impracticality of Mitigation Through Ion Chemistry
A. A. Viggiano 1,
R. A. Morris 1,
K. Gollinger 2, and
F. Arnold 2
1 Phillips Laboratory, Geophysics Directorate, Ionospheric Effects Division (GPID), 29 Randolph Street, Hanscom Air Force Base, MA 01731, USA.
2 Max Planck Institut für Kernphysik, Bereich Atmosphärenphysik, Postfach 103980, D-69029 Heidelberg, Germany
The feasibility of using negative ion chemistry to mitigate stratospheric ozone depletion by chlorine-containing radicals, as proposed recently, is addressed here. Previous in situ measurements of the negative ion composition of the stratosphere show that chlorine-containing ions represent only a small fraction of total ions. New measurements of the negative ion temporal evolution in the stratosphere show that the fractional abundance of chlorine-containing ions is never greater than 1 percent at any time in the ion evolution. On the basis of these and other arguments, using negative ion chemistry to mitigate ozone depletion by chlorine-containing compounds is not feasible.
Submitted on August 22, 1994
Accepted on November 2, 1994
