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McLinden et al. 2003
McLinden, C.A., Prather, M.J. and Johnson, M.S. (2003). Global modeling of the isotopic analogues of N2O: Stratospheric distributions, budgets, and the 17O–18O mass-independent anomaly. Journal of Geophysical Research 108: doi: 10.1029/2002JD002560. issn: 0148-0227.

A three-dimensional chemical transport model (CTM) is used to study the stratospheric distributions and global budgets of the five most abundant isotopic analogues of N2O: 14N14N16O, 14N15N16O, 15N14N16O, 14N14N18O, and 14N14N17O. Two different chemistry models are used to derive photolysis cross sections for the analogues of N2O: (1) the zero-point energy shift model, scaled by a factor of 2 to give better agreement with recent laboratory measurements and (2) the time-dependent Hermite propagator model. Overall, the CTM predicts stratospheric enrichments that are in good agreement with most measurements, with the latter model performing slightly better. Combining the CTM-calculated stratospheric losses for each N2O species with current estimates of tropospheric N2O sources defines a budget of flux-weighted enrichment factors for each. These N2O budgets are not in balance, and trends of -0.04 to -0.06 ?/yr for the mean of 14N15N16O and 15N14N16O and -0.01 to -0.02 ?/yr for 14N14N18O are predicted, although each has large uncertainties associated with the sources. The CTM also predicts that 14N14N17O and 14N14N18O will be fractionated by photolysis in a manner that produces a nonzero mass-independent anomaly. This effect can account for up to half of the observed anomaly in the stratosphere without invoking chemical sources. In addition, a simple one-dimensional model is used to investigate a number of chemical scenarios for the mass-independent composition of stratospheric N2O.

BACKGROUND DATA FILES

Abstract

Keywords
Atmospheric Composition and Structure, Chemical kinetic and photochemical properties, Atmospheric Composition and Structure, Constituent sources and sinks, Atmospheric Composition and Structure, Middle atmosphere--constituent transport and chemistry, Geochemistry, Isotopic composition/chemistry, Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics, Numerical modeling and data assimilation
Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research
http://www.agu.org/journals/jb/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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