Measurement of stratospheric chlorine monoxide and other trace constituents from a portable ground-based mm-wave system

摘要

In 1976, the Astronomy Program and Physics Department at the State University of New York at Stony Brook started a joint research project to develop a ground-based millimeter wave receiver capable of detecting and measuring thermal emission from the rotational lines of chlorine oxide and other stratospheric trace constituents. During the period 1982 to 1989 this research was supported by the above grant. The emphasis throughout the project was on measuring the mixing ratio and altitude distribution of chlorine oxide, ClO, which is directly involved in, and is the single most important tracer of, the catalytic destruction of ozone. This period was marked by very successful measurements of vital importance to understanding the ozone depletion problem, including the first strong evidence that the Antarctic ozone hole is caused by man-made Chlorofluorocarbons.