ACP Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ACP Atmos. Chem. Phys. 1680-7324 Copernicus Publications Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/acp-11-1729-2011 Technical Note: VUV photodesorption rates from water ice in the 120–150 K temperature range – significance for Noctilucent Clouds Kulikov M. Yu. 1 Feigin A. M. 1 Ignatov S. K. 2 Sennikov P. G. 1 3 Bluszcz Th. 4 Schrems O. 4 Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Science, 46 Ulyanov Str., 603950, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod, 23 Gagarin Ave., 603950, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia Institute of Chemistry of High-Purity Substances of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 49 Tropinin St., 603950, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Am Handelshafen 12, 27570 Bremerhaven, Germany 25 02 2011 11 4 1729 1734 Copyright: © 2011 M. Yu. Kulikov et al. 2011 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This article is available from https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/11/1729/2011/acp-11-1729-2011.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/11/1729/2011/acp-11-1729-2011.pdf

Laboratory studies have been carried out with the aim to improve our understanding of physicochemical processes which take place at the water ice/air interface initiated by solar irradiation with a wavelength of 121.6 nm. It was intended to mimic the processes of ice particles characteristic of Noctilucent Clouds (NLCs). The experimental set-up used includes a high-vacuum chamber, a gas handling system, a cryostat with temperature controller, an FTIR spectrometer, a vacuum ultraviolet hydrogen lamp, and a microwave generator. We report the first results of measurements of the absolute photodesorption rate (loss of substance due to the escape of photoproducts into gas phase) from thin (20–100 nm) water ice samples kept in the temperature range of 120–150 K. The obtained results show that a flow of photoproducts into the gas phase is considerably lower than presumed in the recent study by Murray and Plane (2005). The experiments indicate that almost all photoproducts remain in the solid phase, and the principal chemical reaction between them is the recombination reaction H + OH → H<sub>2</sub>O which is evidently very fast. This means that direct photolysis of mesospheric ice particles seems to have no significant impact on the gas phase chemistry of the upper mesosphere.

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