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Science 12 February 1999:
Vol. 283. no. 5404, pp. 968 - 970
DOI: 10.1126/science.283.5404.968
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Reports

Chemical Analysis of Polar Stratospheric Cloud Particles

Jochen Schreiner, 1 Christiane Voigt, 1 Andreas Kohlmann, 1 Frank Arnold, 1 Konrad Mauersberger, 1* Niels Larsen 2

A balloon-borne gondola carrying a particle analysis system, a backscatter sonde, and pressure and temperature sensors was launched from Kiruna, Sweden, on 25 January 1998. Measurements within polar stratospheric cloud layers inside the Arctic polar vortex show a close correlation between large backscatter ratios and enhanced particle-related water and nitric acid signals at low temperatures. Periodic structures in the data indicate the presence of lee waves. The H2O/HNO3 molar ratios are consistently found to be above 10 at atmospheric temperatures between 189 and 192 kelvin. Such high ratios indicate ternary solution particles of H2O, HNO3, and H2SO4 rather than the presence of solid hydrates.

1 Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Division of Atmospheric Physics, Post Office Box 103 980, D-69029 Heidelberg, Germany.
2 Danish Meteorological Institute, Division of Middle Atmosphere Research, Lyngbyvej 100, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed.

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Nitric Acid Trihydrate (NAT) in Polar Stratospheric Clouds.
C. Voigt, J. Schreiner, A. Kohlmann, P. Zink, K. Mauersberger, N. Larsen, T. Deshler, C. Kröger, J. Rosen, A. Adriani, et al. (2000)
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Toward elimination of discrepancies between theory and experiment: The rate constant of the atmospheric conversion of SO3 to H2SO4.
T. Loerting and K. R. Liedl (2000)
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Global Measurements of Stratospheric Mountain Waves from Space.
S. D. Eckermann and a. P. Preusse (1999)
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