Yin Qing-Zhu, Shi Xiaoyu, Chang Chao, Ng Cheuk-Yiu
Department of Geology, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
Science. 2009 Jun 19;324(5934):1516; author reply 1516. doi: 10.1126/science.1170488.
Chakraborty et al. (Reports, 5 September 2008, p. 1328) concluded that an anomalously enriched atomic oxygen reservoir can be generated through carbon monoxide photodissociation without self-shielding. We show that this conclusion is based on the incorrect assumption that the spectral shifts of the 97.03-nanometers and 107.61-nanometers vibrational bands for C16O, C17O, and C18O are negligible and point out shortcomings of the low-resolution light source used in their experiments.
