N2O and NOy

Abstract

The principal loss processes for ozone in the stratosphere are either directly or indirectly closely coupled to the abundance and distribution of reactive oxides of nitrogen (NOy). The main source of NOy in the stratosphere is N2O, a trace gas that is changing significantly as a result of anthropogenic forcing. Thus diagnosis of the distributions of N2O, NOy, and their coupling is required to evaluate any chemistry-climate model aspiring to accurately simulate ozone change. In the NASA Assessment of the Effects of High-speed Aircraft in the Stratosphere: 1998 we found that the sensitivity of various models ozone to perturbation did correspond consistently with their background NOy distribution. Coordinated NOy and N2O mixing ratio distributions are available from observations: ER-2 aircraft in the lower stratosphere and ATMOS and balloon profiles to higher altitudes at a subset of latitudes and seasons. Although close comparison to these diagnostics is crucial, unfortunately the distributions are due to a combination of transport and chemical processes, and isolating the source of differences is not always simple. However, in combination with other transport and photochemical diagnostics, comparison with N2O and NOy can be very instructive in evaluation of model processes and performance.