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Free tropospheric reservoir of natural sulfate

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Abstract

10Be is used as a spike of the natural background atmospheric aerosol to calculate the global flux of sulfur (FS) into the free troposphere. The sulfate and10Be concentrations determined in polar snow are compared. On the basis of an annual10Be production rate of 1.21 106 at.cm-2, a very low figure of 2.9 Tg S a-1 is calculated for FS, which suggests that most of the sulfur emitted at ground level remains in the boundary layer. The role of OCS in the upper tropospheric sulfur budget is reviewed. It is also shown that cataclysmic volcanic eruptions may disturb considerably for 1–2 years this vast background tropospheric sulfur reservoir.

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  1. Laboratoire de Glaciologiceet Géophysique de l'Environnement, B.P. 96, 38402, Saint Martin d'Hères cedex, France

    R. J. Delmas

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Delmas, R.J. Free tropospheric reservoir of natural sulfate. J Atmos Chem 14, 261–271 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00115238

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