Role of the BRO + HO₂ reaction in the stratospheric chemistry of bromine

Abstract

The impact of new laboratory data for the reaction BrO + HO 2 → HOBr + O 2 has been estimated in a one‐dimensional photochemical modelling of bromine/ozone stratospheric chemistry. The reported 6 fold increase in the measured value for the rate constant of this reaction significantly increases both the HOBr mixing ratio and the global ozone depletion due to bromine compounds (the calculated ozone loss increases from 1.14% to 1.45% for a 20 ppt total bromine content). The higher rate constant makes the bromine partitioning and the ozone depletion very sensitive to the branching ratio of the potential channel forming HBr in the BrO + HO 2 reaction. The influence of the existing uncertainty in the photolysis rate of HOBr is also analysed.