Ground-based nitric acid measurements at Arrival Heights, Antarctica, using solar and lunar Fourier transform infrared observations

Nitric acid plays an important role in processes leading to stratospheric ozone loss in polar regions. Spectroscopic absorption measurements of nitric acid have been made during the sunlit part of the Antarctic year at Arrival Heights (78°S, 167°E) since the late 1980s. This paper presents the first extension of these nitric acid measurements through the winter, using the Moon as a light source. Both solar and lunar measurements for the years 1998–2003 are presented. For the lunar measurements, additional corrections owing to emission of the atmosphere and the instrument must be made. The measurements show that the column amount of nitric acid within the polar vortex continues to increase after polar sunset reaching values of ∼2.5 × 1016 molecules cm−2 ∼1 month after sunset. When temperatures become low enough for the condensation of water and nitric acid molecules, polar stratospheric clouds form, and rapid depletion of the gaseous nitric acid column is observed. The measurements have captured this event particularly well in 2002. At the time of the polar sunrise the column amounts of nitric acid are extremely depleted and are as low as 0.5 × 1016 molecules cm−2. During the spring period the site can sample air from both inside and outside the polar vortex. Inside the vortex the observed gradual recovery of HNO3 in the spring and summer months is consistent with predictions of denitrification occurring during the Antarctic winter. For measurements outside the vortex, higher HNO3 columns are observed.