Quantification of nitryl chloride at part per trillion mixing ratios by thermal dissociation cavity ring-down spectroscopy

Nitryl chloride (ClNO(2)) is an important nocturnal nitrogen oxide reservoir species in the troposphere. Here, we report a novel method, thermal dissociation cavity ring-down spectroscopy (TD-CRDS), to quantify ClNO(2) mixing ratios with tens of parts-per-trillion by volume (pptv) sensitivity. The mixing ratios of ClNO(2) are determined by blue diode laser CRDS of NO(2), produced from quantitative thermal dissociation of ClNO(2) in an inlet heated to 450 °C, relative to NO(2) observed in an unheated reference channel. ClNO(2) was generated by passing Cl(2) gas over a slurry containing a 1:10 mixture of NaNO(2) and NaCl. The TD-CRDS response was evaluated using parallel measurements of ClNO(2) by chemical ionization mass spectrometry (CIMS) using I(-) as the reagent ion and NO(y) (= NO + NO(2) + HNO(3) + ΣRO(2)NO(2) + ΣRONO(2) + HONO + 2N(2)O(5) + ClNO(2) + ...) chemiluminescence (CL). The linear dynamic range extends from the detection limit of 20 pptv (1 σ, 1 min) to 30 parts-per-billion by volume (ppbv), the highest mixing ratio tested. The ClNO(2) TD profile overlaps with those of alkyl nitrates, which has implications for nocturnal measurements of total alkyl nitrate (ΣAN = ΣRONO(2)) abundances by thermal dissociation (with detection as NO(2)) in ambient air.