Abstract

It is generally accepted that nitric oxide (NO) plays an important role in the complex chemistry of the formation and destruction of atmospheric ozone.¹ However, its low concentration in the nonurban troposphere, believed to often be ≤10 pptv, presents the analyst of the troposphere with a challenging measurement problem. Investigations in our laboratory show that resonance ionization spectroscopy (RIS) is a promising technique for measuring NO concentrations in the troposphere and also that this technique may be applicable to the detection of a variety of trace tropospheric molecules.

© 1984 Optical Society of America