Growth of halocarbon abundances in the stratosphere between 1977 and 1999 Original Research Article

Between 1977 and 1999 a total of 36 balloon launches were carried out of cryogenic whole air samplers collecting 15 large samples per flight between 10 and 35 km altitude. Samples were analysed by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry thus providing vertical profiles of halocarbons such as CCl4, CCl3F, CCl2F2, CClF3, CF4, CHClF2, CH3Cl, CBrClF2, CBrF3, CH3Br, C2Cl3F3, C2Cl2F4, C2ClF5, C2F6 and C2H3Cl3 along with profiles of other source gases. This paper describes the growth of the abundances of single substances as well as the total organic chlorine budget as derived from this data set spanning more than 22 years.