Why the carbon dioxide is low in lower atmosphere stratosphere
Answers
Explanation:
During the past several years, much attention has been focused on the destruction of ozone by anthropogenic pollutants such as the nitrogen oxides and chlorofluoromethane. Little or no attention has been given to the influence on ozone of an increased carbon dioxide concentration for which a measurable growth has been observed. Increased carbon dioxide can indirectly affect ozone by perturbing atmospheric temperatures, which will alter ozone production, whose rate displays a fairly strong temperature dependence. This paper presents one‐dimensional model results for the steady state ozone behavior when the CO2 concentration is twice its ambient level which account for coupling between chemistry and temperature. When the CO2 level doubled, the total ozone burden increased in relation to the ambient burden by 1.2–2.5%, depending on the vertical diffusion coefficient used. Above 30 km, ozone concentrations were larger than the ambient values, a maximum increase of 16% being reached at 43 km. In this region the relative variations were insensitive to the choice of diffusion coefficient. Below 30 km, ozone concentrations were smaller than the unperturbed values and were sensitive to the vertical diffusion profile in this region (10–30 km). Ozone decreases in the lower stratosphere because of a reduction in ozone‐producing solar radiation, which results in smaller downward ozone fluxes from the region at 25–30 km relative to the flux values for the ambient atmosphere. These offsetting changes occurring in the upper and lower stratosphere act to minimize the variation in total ozone.