Open AccessValidation of the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment by noncoincident MkIV balloon profiles
Author(s) -
Velazco Voltaire A.,
Toon Geoffrey C.,
Blavier JeanFrancois L.,
Kleinböhl Armin,
Manney Gloria L.,
Daffer William H.,
Bernath Peter F.,
Walker Kaley A.,
Boone Chris
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: atmospheres
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/2010jd014928
Subject(s) - stratosphere , troposphere , occultation , atmospheric chemistry , mixing ratio , trace gas , atmospheric sciences , isotopologue , atmosphere of earth , tropopause , atmospheric sounding , environmental science , analytical chemistry (journal) , atmosphere (unit) , chemistry , meteorology , physics , ozone , astrophysics , astronomy , environmental chemistry , spectral line
We have compared volume mixing ratio profiles of atmospheric trace gases measured by the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE) version 2.2 and the MkIV solar occultation Fourier transform infrared spectrometers. These gases are H 2 O, O 3 , N 2 O, CO, CH 4 , HNO 3 , HF, HCl, OCS, ClONO 2 , HCN, CH 3 Cl, CF 4 , CCl 2 F 2 , CCl 3 F, COF 2 , CHF 2 Cl, and SF 6 . Due to the complete lack of close spatiotemporal coincidences between the ACE occultations and the MkIV balloon flights, we used potential temperatures and equivalent latitudes from analyzed meteorological fields to find comparable ACE and MkIV profiles. The results show excellent agreement for CH 4 , N 2 O, and other long‐lived gases but slightly poorer agreement for shorter‐lived species like CO, O 3 , and HCN. For example, in the upper troposphere (∼400–650 K), maximum differences between MkIV and ACE are 2.4% for CH 4 , 1.7% for N 2 O, −12.4% for CO, −15.9% for O 3 , and −5.6% for HCN. In the lower stratosphere (∼650–900 K), maximum MkIV‐ACE differences are 7.6% for CH 4 , 14.1% for N 2 O, 7.3% for CO, −9.2% for O 3 , and 31.5% for HCN. Apart from a small vertical misregistration problem, the overall agreement between MkIV and ACE is very good.