A numerical model for one‐dimensional simulation of stratospheric chemistry

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Abstract
We describe a one‐dimensional (1‐D) numerical model developed to simulate the chemistry of minor constituents in the stratosphere. The model incorporates most of the chemical species presently found in the upper atmosphere and has been used to investigate the effect of increasing chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) emissions on ozone (O3). Our calculations confirm previous results that O3 depletions in the 20–25 km region, the region of the O3 maximum, are very sensitive to the relative abundances of Clx and NOy in the lower stratosphere for high Clx amounts. The individual abundances of lower stratospheric Clx and NOy amounts are very sensitive to upper tropospheric mixing ratios, which, in turn, are determined largely by surface input fluxes and heterogeneous loss processes. Thus the behaviour of column O3 depletions at high Clx levels is greatly affected, albeit indirectly, by tropospheric processes. For high Clx levels the Ox flux from the stratosphere to the troposphere is dramatically reduced, leading to a large reduction in tropospheric O3. Some of the variation between different published 1‐D model results is most likely due to this critical dependence of O3 depletion on NOy‐Clx ratios. Model simulations of time‐dependent CFC effects on ozone indicate that if CFCs were to remain at constant 1980 emission rates while N2O increased at 0.25% a−1 and CH4 increased at 1% a−1, we could expect a 2.2% decrease in total column O3 (relative to the 1980 atmosphere) by the year 2000. However, if CFC emission rates were to increase by 3% a−1 (current estimates are 5–6% a−1), we would predict a depletion of 2.7% by the year 2000. The calculations for times beyond the year 2000 suggest that the effects on total O3 will begin to accelerate. If methyl chloroform emissions are added at 7% a−1 (current estimates are 7–9% a−1) to the above CFC‐N2O‐CH4 scenario we calculate total O3 depletions by the year 2000 that are 41% larger than those calculated without. This suggests that if the emissions of methyl chloroform continue to increase at their present rate then methyl chloroform could have a significant effect upon total O3.