Working Group Report — Acidic Gases

Nitric acid studies may help to evaluate natural (eg lighting, stratospheric N₂O oxidation, terrestrial biogenic) and anthropogenic contributions to the NO_x budget in remote regions. For instance, the role of the stratosphere in contributing via the denitrification process to the nitric acid burden of the polar boundary layer, if confirmed, could be useful to investigate minimum temperatures of the lower stratosphere in the past. In polar ecosystems nitrate is the limiting nutrient. In addition, nitrate paleodata are useful in the study of the carbon cycle because of the interactions between the C and N cycles.