Monsoon circulations and tropical heterogeneous chlorine chemistry in the stratosphere

Abstract

Model simulations presented in this paper suggest that transport processes associated with the summer monsoons bring increased abundances of hydrochloric acid into contact with liquid sulfate aerosols in the cold tropical lowermost stratosphere, leading to heterogeneous chemical activation of chlorine species. The calculations indicate that the spatial and seasonal distributions of chlorine monoxide and chlorine nitrate near the monsoon regions of the northern hemisphere tropical and subtropical lowermost stratosphere could provide indicators of heterogeneous chlorine processing. In the model, these processes impact the local ozone budget and decrease ozone abundances, implying a chemical contribution to longer-term northern tropical ozone profile changes at 16–19 km.