N 2 O 5 uptake onto saline mineral dust: a potential missing source of tropospheric ClNO 2 in inland China

Abstract. Nitryl chloride (ClNO2), an important precursor of Cl atoms, significantly affects atmospheric oxidation capacity and O3 formation. However, sources of ClNO2 in inland China have not been fully elucidated. In this work, laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate heterogeneous reaction of N2O5 with eight saline mineral dust samples collected from different regions in China, and substantial formation of ClNO2 was observed. ClNO2 yields, φ(ClNO2), showed large variations (ranging from