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, O-3, NOy, 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 [O-3], [NOy], [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 [NOy] determined by detection of individual species by ATMOS and the total [NOy] 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.