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Subscriber Access to Full Article (Nonsubscribers may purchase for $9.00, Includes print PDF, file size: 317891 bytes)
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS,
VOL. 32,
L05802,
doi:10.1029/2004GL022003,
2005
Stratospheric effects of energetic particle precipitation in 2003–2004
C. E. Randall
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
V. L. Harvey
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
G. L. Manney
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
Y. Orsolini
Norwegian Institute for Air Research, Kjeller, Norway
M. Codrescu
NOAA Space Environment Center and Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), University of Colorado,
Boulder, Colorado, USA
C. Sioris
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
S. Brohede
Department of Radio and Space Science, Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden
C. S. Haley
Centre for Research in Earth and Space Science, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
L. L. Gordley
GATS, Inc., Newport News, Virginia, USA
J. M. Zawodny
NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, USA
J. M. Russell III
Center for Atmospheric Sciences, Physics Department, Hampton University, Hampton, Virginia, USA
Abstract
Upper stratospheric enhancements in NOx (NO and NO2) were observed at high northern latitudes from March through at least July of 2004. Multi-satellite data analysis is used
to examine the temporal evolution of the enhancements, to place them in historical context, and to investigate their origin.
The enhancements were a factor of 4 higher than nominal at some locations, and are unprecedented in the northern hemisphere
since at least 1985. They were accompanied by reductions in O3 of more than 60% in some cases. The analysis suggests that energetic particle precipitation led to substantial NOx production in the upper atmosphere beginning with the remarkable solar storms in late October 2003 and possibly persisting
through January. Downward transport of the excess NOx, facilitated by unique meteorological conditions in 2004 that led to an unusually strong upper stratospheric vortex from
late January through March, caused the enhancements.
Received 15
November
2004;
accepted 2
February
2005;
published 2
March
2005.
Index Terms: 0340 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Middle atmosphere: composition and chemistry; 0341 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Middle atmosphere: constituent transport and chemistry (3334); 0342 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Middle atmosphere: energy deposition (3334); 2716 Magnetospheric Physics: Energetic particles: precipitating; 3360 Atmospheric Processes: Remote sensing.
Subscriber Access to Full Article (Nonsubscribers may purchase for $9.00, Includes print PDF, file size: 317891 bytes)
Citation: Randall, C. E., et al.
(2005),
Stratospheric effects of energetic particle precipitation in 2003–2004,
Geophys. Res. Lett.,
32,
L05802,
doi:10.1029/2004GL022003.
Copyright 2005 by the American Geophysical Union.
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