Nitrogen dioxide monitoring with an automatic DOAS station at Terra Nova Bay (Antarctica)

During the last few years W-Vis spectrometers were developed at the FISBAT Institute and are used for application of Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS) method to detect many atmospheric trace gases (ozone, NO2, OClO BrO, etc.) playing important role in the stratospheric chemistry. After several tests both in laboratory and in Antarctic region, one of the spectrometers, called GASCOD2/2, was modified in collaboration with ENEA for unattended and automatic measurement in extreme high-latitude environment. The instrument was installed in December 1995 in the Italian Station at Terra Nova Bay (TNB). The aim of this research is to study the denitrification processes during the formation of the so-called ozone hole over the Antarctic region. The preliminary result for the first year of nitrogen dioxide measurement are presented and discussed.