ACPD Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions ACPD 1680-7375 Copernicus GmbH Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/acpd-10-26473-2010 First carbon dioxide atmospheric vertical profiles retrieved from space observation using ACE-FTS solar occultation instrument Foucher P. Y. 1 2 Chédin A. 1 Armante R. 1 Boone C. 3 Crevoisier C. 1 Bernath P. 3 4 Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique/Institut Pierre Simon Laplace, Ecole Polytechnique, UMR 8539, 91128 Palaiseau, France Onera – Centre Midi Pyrénées, BP74025, 2 Avenue Edouard Belin, 31055 Toulouse Cedex 4, France Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Ontario, N2L3G1, Canada Department of Chemistry, University of York, Heslington, York, YO105DD, UK 05 11 2010 10 11 26473 26512 This is an open-access article ditributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This article is available from http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/10/26473/2010/acpd-10-26473-2010.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/10/26473/2010/acpd-10-26473-2010.pdf

Major limitations of our present knowledge of the global distribution of CO<sub>2</sub> in the atmosphere are the uncertainty in atmospheric transport and the sparseness of in situ concentration measurements. Limb viewing spaceborne sounders such as the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment Fourier transform spectrometer (ACE-FTS) offer a vertical resolution of a few kilometres for profiles, which is much better than currently flying or planned nadir sounding instruments can achieve. After having demonstrated the feasibility of obtaining CO<sub>2</sub> vertical profiles in the 5–25 km altitude range with an accuracy of about 2 ppm in a previous study, we present here the results of five years of ACE-FTS observations in terms of monthly mean profiles of CO<sub>2</sub> averaged over 10° latitude bands for northern mid-latitudes. These results are compared with in-situ aircraft measurements and with simulations from two different air transport models. Key features of the measured altitude distribution of CO<sub>2</sub> are shown to be accurately reproduced by the ACE-FTS retrievals: variation in altitude of the seasonal cycle amplitude and extrema, seasonal change of the vertical gradient, and mean growth rate. We show that small but significant differences from model simulations could result from an over estimation of the model circulation strength during the northern hemisphere spring. Coupled with column measurements from a nadir viewing instrument, it is expected that occultation measurements will bring useful constraints to the surface carbon flux determination.

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