Contribution to the atmospheric sulfur budget

Abstract

The paper presents preliminary results on tropospheric measurements of SO/sub 2/ and sulfate aerosols by means of aircraft ascents. The results show an increase of the SO/sub 4//sup 2 -//SO/sub 2/ ration with altitude. A hypothesis on the mechanism of sulfate formation in the troposphere in the presence of clouds is offered, along with new data on the background concentration of SO/sub 2/ and sulfate aerosols in pure air. The SO/sub 2/ concentration over the Atlantic Ocean varies between 0 and 3 micrograms SO/sub 2//m/sup 3/, and the sulfate concentration was found to be around 2 to 5 micrograms/m/sup 3/.