Seasonal cycle of averages of nitrous oxide and ozone in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere polar, midlatitude, and tropical regions derived from ILAS/ILAS-II and Odin/SMR observations

Northern and Southern Hemispheric monthly averages of ozone (O-3) and nitrous oxide (N2O) have been suggested as a tool for evaluating atmospheric photochemical models. An adequate data set for such an evaluation can be derived from measurements made by satellites which, in general, have a high spatial and temporal coverage. Here, we use measurements made by the Improved Limb Atmospheric Spectrometers (ILAS and ILAS-II) which use the solar occultation technique and by the Odin-Sub-Millimetre Radiometer (Odin/SMR) which passively observes thermal emissions from the Earth's limb. From ILAS/ILAS-II and Odin/SMR observations, 1-year data sets of monthly averaged O-3 and N2O, covering a full seasonal cycle, were derived for the latitude range between 60 - 90 degrees N and 60 - 90 degrees S, respectively, by partitioning the data into equal bins of altitude or potential temperature. A comparison between both data sets in this latitude region shows a good agreement and verifies that limited sampling from satellite occultation experiments does not constitute a problem for deriving such a full seasonal cycle of monthly averaged N2O and O-3. Since Odin/SMR provides measurements globally, a 1-year data set of monthly averaged N2O and O-3 is reported here for both the entire Northern and Southern Hemispheres from these measurements. Further, these hemispheric data sets from Odin/SMR are separated into data sets of monthly averaged N2O and O-3 for the low latitudes, midlatitudes, and high latitudes. The resulting families of curves help to differentiate between O-3 changes due to photochemistry from those due to transport. These 1-year hemispheric data sets of monthly averaged N2O and O-3 from Odin/SMR and ILAS/ILAS-II as well as the data sets of monthly averaged N2O and O-3 for the specific latitude regions from Odin/SMR provide a potentially important tool for the evaluation of atmospheric photochemical models. An example of how such an evaluation can be performed is given usi
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