Ground-based FTIR observation of hydrogen chloride (HCl) over Hefei, China, and comparisons with GEOS-Chem model data and other ground-based FTIR stations data

In this study, the characterization of Hydrogen Chloride (HCl) seasonal variations and inter-annual linear trend are presented for the first time over the polluted region at Hefei (117°10'E, 31°54'N), China. The time series of HCl were retrieved by the mid-infrared (MIR) solar spectra recorded by the ground-based high-resolution Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) between July, 2015 and April, 2019. The magnitude of HCl reaches a peak in January (2.70 ± 0.16) × 10¹⁵ molecules*cm^-2 and a minimum in September (2.27 ± 0.09) × 10¹⁵ molecules*cm^-2. The four-year time series of HCl total column show a negative linear trend of (-1.83 ± 0.13) %. The FTIR data are compared with GEOS-Chem data in order to evaluate the performance of the GEOS-Chem model to simulate HCl. In general, total column FTIR data and GEOS-Chem model data are in a good agreement with a correlation coefficient of 0.82. GEOS-Chem model data present a good agreement with FTIR data in seasonal variation and inter-annul trend. The maximum differences occur in January and April with mean differences of 4%-6%. We also present HCl time series observed by 6 NDACC stations (Bremen, Toronto, Rikubetsu, Izana, Reunion.maido, Lauder) in low-middle-latitude sites of the northern and southern hemispheres and Hefei stations in order to investigate the seasonal and annual trends of HCl in low-middle-latitude sites. The HCl total column at the northern hemisphere stations reached the maximum in the late winter or early spring and the minimum in the early winter or late autumn. In general, the seasonal variations of HCl over Hefei is similar to that in other northern hemisphere mid-latitude FTIR stations.

Midwinter Start to Antarctic Ozone Depletion: Evidence from Observations and Models

Measurements of total ozone at Faraday, Antarctica (65°S), by a visible spectrometer show a winter maximum. This new observation is consistent with the descent of air within the polar vortex during early winter, together with ozone depletion starting in midwinter. Chemical depletion at these latitudes in midwinter is suggested by existing satellite observations of enhanced chlorine monoxide and reduced ozone above 100 hectapascals and by reduced ozone in sonde profiles. New three-dimensional model calculations for 1994 confirm that chemical ozone depletion started in June at the sunlit vortex edge and became substantial by late July. This would not have been observed by most previous techniques, which either could not operate in winter or were closer to the Pole.