Ozone Chemistry

This is an animation of the chemistry taking place within the polar night vortex. The animation begins with CFC's (chlorofluorocarbons) entering the tropical stratosphere, the liberation of chlorine from the CFC's by photolysis, the formation of the reservior gases ClONO₂ and HCl, and the transformation of those gases to the ozone destroying radical ClO over the winter polar regions.

Images:

JPEG (42 k)

Technical notes:
Rendered: July 1997