A Comparison of Measurements from ATMOS and Instruments Aboard the ER-2 Aircraft: Tracers of Atmospheric Transport

We compare volume mixing ratio profiles of N2O, O3, NO(y) H2O, CH4, and CO in the mid-latitude lower stratosphere measured by the ATMOS Fourier transform spectrometer on the ATLAS-3 Space Shuttle Mission with in situ measurements acquired from the NASA ER-2 aircraft during Nov 1994. ATMOS and ER-2 observations of [N2O] show good agreement, as do measured correlations of [O3], [NO(y)], [H2O], and [CH4] with [N2O]. Thus a consistent measure of the hydrogen (H2O, CH4) content of the lower stratosphere is provided by the two platforms. The similarity of [NO(y)] determined by detection of individual species by ATMOS and the total [NO(y)] measurement on the ER-2 provides strong corroboration for the accuracy of both techniques. A 25% discrepancy in lower stratospheric [CO] observed by ATMOS and the ER-2 remains unexplained. Otherwise, the agreement for measurements of long-lived tracers demonstrates the ability to combine ATMOS data with in situ observations for quantifying atmospheric transport.