Stratospheric effects of energetic particle precipitation in 2003-2004
Journal article, 2005
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 O-3 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.
Author
C. E. Randall
University of Colorado at Boulder
V.L. Harvey
University of Colorado at Boulder
G.L. Manney
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
New Mexico Highlands University
Y. J. Orsolini
Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU)
M. Codrescu
University of Colorado at Boulder
C. E. Sioris
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Samuel Brohede
Chalmers, Department of Radio and Space Science, Global Environmental Measurements
C.S. Haley
York University
L. L. Gordley
GATS, Inc.
J.M. Zawodny
NASA Langley Research Center
J.M. Russell III
Hampton University
Geophysical Research Letters
0094-8276 (ISSN) 19448007 (eISSN)
Vol. 32 5 1-4Subject Categories
Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences
DOI
10.1029/2004GL022003