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Douglass et al. 1993
Douglass, A., Rood, R., Waters, J., Froidevaux, L., Read, W., Elson, L., Geller, M., Chi, Y., Cerniglia, M. and Steenrod, S. (1993). A 3D simulation of the early winter distribution of reactive chlorine in the north polar vortex. Geophysical Research Letters 20: doi: 10.1029/93GL01586. issn: 0094-8276.

Early in December 1991, high values of ClO are seen by the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite at latitudes south of areas of temperatures cold enough to form polar stratospheric clouds (PSC's). A three dimensional simulation shows that the heterogeneous conversion of chlorine reservoirs to reactive chlorine on the surfaces of PSC's (processing) takes place at high latitudes. Often the ''processed'' air must be transported to lower latitudes, where the reactive chlorine is photochemically converted to ClO, to be observed by MLS. In this simulation, one incidence of cold temperatures is associated with an anticyclone, and a second with a cyclone. The transport of processed air associated with the anticyclone is marked by shearing; a decrease in the maximum of the processed air is accompanied by growth of the area influenced by the processing. In contrast, the air processed in the cyclonic event spreads more slowly. This shows that transport and shearing is a crucial element to the evolution of reactive chlorine associated with a processing event. In particular, transport and shearing, as well as photochemical processes, can cause variations in observed ClO. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1993

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Abstract

Keywords
Atmospheric Composition and Structure, Middle atmosphere—composition and chemistry
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
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Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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