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 1-4

Subject Categories

Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences

DOI

10.1029/2004GL022003

More information

Latest update

5/26/2023