The mid-IR Absorption Cross Sections ofα- andβ-NAT (HNO3 · 3H2O) in the range 170 to 185 K and of metastable NAD (HNO3 · 2H2O) in the range 172 to 182 K

What is it about?

Growth and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) absorption in transmission of the title nitric acid hydrates have been performed in a stirred flow reactor (SFR) under tight control of the H2O and HNO3 deposition conditions affording a closed mass balance of the binary mixture. The gas and condensed phases have been simultaneously monitored using residual gas mass spectrometry and FTIR absorption spectroscopy, respectively. Barrierless nucleation of the metastable phases of both α-NAT (nitric acid trihydrate) and NAD (nitric acid dihydrate) has been observed when HNO3 was admitted to the SFR in the presence of amacroscopic thin film of pure H2O ice of typically 1 μm thickness. The stable β-NAT phase was spontaneously formed from the precursor α-NAT phase through irreversible thermal rearrangement beginning at 185 K. This facile growth scheme of nitric acid hydrates requires the presence of H2O ice at thicknesses in excess of approximately hundred nanometers. Absolute absorption cross sections in the mid-IR spectral range (700–4000 cm-
1) of all three title compounds have been obtained after spectral subtraction of excess pure ice at temperatures characteristic of the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere. Prominent IR absorption frequencies correspond to the antisymmetric nitrate stretch vibration (ν3(NO3
)) in the range 1300 to 1420 cm-
1 and the bands of hydrated protons in the range 1670 to 1850 cm-
1 in addition to the antisymmetric O–H stretch vibration of bound H2O in the range 3380 to 3430 cm-
1 for NAT.

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Why is it important?

Baseline optical data are important for remote-sensing of ice clouds including polar stratospheric clouds using satellite as well as LIDAR platforms.