Atmospheric fine structure during GTE TRACE A: Relationships among ozone, carbon monoxide, and water vapor

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A major focus of the Global Tropospheric Experiment/Transport and Chemistry Near the Equator‐Atlantic (GTE TRACE A) experiment was to determine whether the seasonal tropospheric ozone (O3) buildup over the tropical South Atlantic, observed by both satellites and sondes, is due to photochemical production of O3 from biomass burning effluents or from transport of O3 from the stratosphere. During this expedition, fast response in situ measurements were made of O3, carbon monoxide (CO), and dew point (DP) from aboard the NASA DC‐8 aircraft. Numerous vertical profiles were obtained over Brazil, Africa, and the South Atlantic to determine the origin of the observed O3 enhancement. Fine structure in these data was examined by (1) investigating differences in the species concentration (5‐s averages) and its 2 km vertical running mean during altitude profiles, (2) calculating Fishman‐Seiler coefficients for all vertical profiles with altitude range greater than 3 km, and (3) calculating linear regressions between species across short time intervals (2.5 min) using time series data. The fine structure holds information about the recent history of an air mass and therefore can indicate the “source” of tropospheric O3 enhancement: either transport from the stratosphere (negative correlation with CO and DP) or from photochemistry in the troposphere (positive correlation with CO). All three methods indicate that within the tropical South Atlantic during the TRACE A experiment, net in situ photochemical production is significantly more important than transport from the stratosphere.