%0 Journal Article
%T ACE-FTS observations of acetonitrile in the lower stratosphere
%A J. J. Harrison
%A P. F. Bernath
%J Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions
%D 2013
%I Copernicus Publications
%R 10.5194/acpd-13-3323-2013
%X This work reports the first infrared satellite remote-sensing measurements of acetonitrile (CH3CN) in the Earth's atmosphere using solar occultation measurements made by the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment Fourier transform spectrometer (ACE-FTS) between 2004 and 2011. The retrieval scheme uses new quantitative laboratory spectroscopic measurements of acetonitrile (Harrison and Bernath, 2012). Although individual ACE-FTS profile measurements are dominated by measurement noise, median profiles in 10¡ã latitude bins show a steady decline in volume mixing ratio from ~150 ppt at 11.5 km to <40 ppt at 25.5¨C29.5 km. These new measurements agree well with the scant available air- and balloon-borne data in the lower stratosphere. An acetonitrile stratospheric lifetime of 73 ¡À 20 yr has been determined.
%U http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/13/3323/2013/acpd-13-3323-2013.pdf