Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net 1680-7367 1680-7375 5 5 2005 10.5194/acpd-5-10747-2005 http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/5/10747/2005/ http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/5/10747/2005/acpd-5-10747-2005.html http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/5/10747/2005/acpd-5-10747-2005.pdf 10747 10797 2005-10-27 Inter-comparison of stratospheric O₃ and NO₂ abundances retrieved from balloon borne direct sun observations and Envisat/SCIAMACHY limb measurements A. Butz H. Bösch C. Camy-Peyret M. Chipperfield M. Dorf G. Dufour K. Grunow P. Jeseck S. Kühl S. Payan I. Pepin J. Pukite A. Rozanov C. von Savigny C. Sioris T. Wagner F. Weidner K. Pfeilsticker Institut für Umweltphysik, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany Laboratoire de Physique Moléculaire pour l’Atmosphère et l’Astrophysique (LPMAA), Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France Institute of Environmental Physics and Institute of Remote Sensing, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, USA Institute for Atmospheric Science, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK Meteorologisches Institut, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany Institute of Atomic Physics and Spectroscopy, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia now at: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA now at: Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada Stratospheric O₃ and NO₂ abundances measured by different remote sensing instruments are inter-compared: (1) Line-of-sight absorptions and vertical profiles inferred from solar spectra in the ultra-violet (UV), visible and infrared (IR) wavelength ranges measured by the LPMA/DOAS (Limb Profile Monitor of the Atmosphere/Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy) balloon payload during balloon ascent/descent and solar occultation are examined with respect to internal consistency. (2) The balloon borne stratospheric profiles of O₃ and NO₂ are compared to collocated space-borne skylight limb observations of the Envisat/SCIAMACHY satellite instrument. The trace gas profiles are retrieved from SCIAMACHY spectra using different algorithms developed at the Universities of Bremen and Heidelberg and at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. A comparison scheme is used that accounts for the spatial and temporal mismatch as well as differing photochemical conditions between the balloon and satellite borne measurements. It is found that the balloon borne measurements internally agree to within ±10% and ±20% for O₃ and NO₂, respectively, whereas the agreement with the satellite is ±20% for both gases in the 20 km to 30 km altitude range and in general worse below 20 km.