Determination of parameters appearing in the “dry” and the “wet” photochemical theories for ozone in the stratosphere

Abstract

Existing photochemical theories of the ozone in the stratosphere have been investigated. It is indicated in this work that the ozone concentrations above 30 km between 0° and 45° latitude during the summer months are mainly determined by photochemical processes. Parameters appearing in the schemes proposed by Chapman and Hampson are determined by fitting them to the mean ozone observations obtained from the Umkehr method. The results obtained simply that it is unlikely that any of the above mentioned theories alone can explain the ozone distributions. Numerical conditions on critical parameters are given. An alternative theory involving water vapour dissociation by excited molecular oxygen O₂(³?⁺_u) is also discussed. DOI: 10.1111/j.2153-3490.1969.tb00450.x