| It is well understood that chemical processes in the stratosphere lead to the destruction of ozone (O3). Our interest in these processes is twofold: (1) stratospheric O3 shields the Earth from biologically harmful radiation, and (2) O3 is a radiatively active gas largely responsible for the temperature structure of the middle atmosphere. A subset of chemical processes that is particularly relevant to O3 consists of catalytic cycles. Catalysts destroy O3 without being depleted. The NOx (NO + NO2) catalytic cycle dominates in the middle stratosphere. One source of stratospheric NO x is energetic particle precipitation (EPP), which contributes to the stratospheric odd nitrogen (NOy) budget in the polar winter. Through interaction with O3, NO x created by EPP (EPP-NOx) has the potential to affect not only the composition of the middle atmosphere but, since O3 is a radiatively active gas, temperature and dynamics as well. This leads to the following science questions, which are the questions that motivated my dissertation: (1) How much EPP-NOx is transported to the stratosphere from year to year? (2) What are the important transport processes involved?;The research described here focuses on answering the first question through quantification of the amount of EPP-NOx reaching the northern hemisphere stratosphere using satellite data and the second question through state-of-the-art climate simulations designed to elucidate the important transport mechanisms. |
