Infrared spectroscopic measurements of halogenated source gases in the stratosphere with the ATMOS instrument

Abstract

The volume mixing ratios of the six most important halogenated source species (CH3Cl, CF2Cl2, CFCl3, CHF2Cl, CCl4, and CF4) have been retrieved over the 10‐ to 30‐km altitude range from the analysis of 0.01 cm−1 resolution infrared solar occultation spectra recorded near 30°N and 47°S latitudes with the ATMOS (Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy) instrument, operating from on board Spacelab 3 (April–May 1985). The results reported here, although in satisfactory agreement with recent in situ values obtained from air sampling techniques, are limited in accuracy by the limited absorption representative of most of the species and by uncertainties in the Spectroscopic parameters currently available for these gases. They demonstrate, however, the powerfulness of the IR remote sensing approach for evaluating on a global scale the total chlorine budget of the atmosphere, and they provide an independent set of simultaneous data acquired for the important source and reservoir halogenated molecular species in the upper atmosphere.