OZONE DESTRUCTION BY CHLORINE - THE IMPRACTICALITY OF MITIGATION THROUGH ION CHEMISTRY

The feasibility of using negative ion chemistry to mitigate stratosphe ric ozone depletion by chlorine-containing radicals, as proposed recen tly, is addressed here. Previous in situ measurements of the negative ion composition of the stratosphere show that chlorine-containing ions represent only a small fraction of total ions. New measurements of th e negative ion temporal evolution in the stratosphere show that the fr actional abundance of chlorine-containing ions is never greater than 1 percent at any time in the ion evolution. On the basis of these and o ther arguments, using negative ion chemistry to mitigate ozone depleti on by chlorine-containing compounds is not feasible.