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The vertical sulfur dioxide distribution at the tropopause level

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Abstract

In 1978–1980 nine aircraft flights to an altitude of up to 15 km were made over western Europe. Sulfur dioxide was measured with a sensitive chemiluminescence method consisting of separate sampling and analysis stages and application of a wet chemical filter procedure (detection limit: 8 pptv SO2).

The measurements performed in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere lead to some unexpected results: (a) the meteorological conditions at the tropopause level have an important influence on the observed SO2 mixing ratio; (b) between the 500 mb and the actual tropopause level the SO2 mixing ratio is found to be <100 pptv, and weak vertical gradients of SO2 suggest only a small flux of tropospheric SO2 into the stratosphere; (c) increasing SO2 mixing ratios within the first kilometers of the stratosphere give strong support to a stratospheric source of SO2.

In the light of improved one-dimensional models considering the vertical distribution of stratospheric sulfur compounds (Crutzen, 1981; Turco et al. 1981) it can be shown that the oxidation of organic sulfur compounds (e.g., OCS, CS2) seems to be a stratospheric source of SO2. Furthermore, the flux calculations based on the SO2 mixing ratios measured at the tropopause level indicate that the contribution of tropospheric (man-made) SO2 to the stratospheric aerosol layer is of only minor importance.

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  1. Institut für Chemie 3: Atmosphärische Chemie, Kernforschungsanlage Jülich GmbH, P.O. Box 1913, 5170, Jülich, F.R. Germany

    F. X. Meixner

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Meixner, F.X. The vertical sulfur dioxide distribution at the tropopause level. J Atmos Chem 2, 175–189 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00114130

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00114130

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