Nitrogen dioxide column content measurements made from an aircraft between 5� and 82�N

Abstract

In the first two weeks of May 1981, the research jet of the German Aerospace Research Establishment (DFVLR) was charted to fly a meridional section between 5° and 82°N. A scanning filter photometer, developed at the Max Planck Institut fur Aeronomie to measure column content values of atmospheric ozone and nitrogen dioxide, using ultra violet and visible absorption techniques, constituted part of the experimental payload for this campaign that was called ‘SIMOC’. The vertical NO2 column content above the aircraft, flying at approximately 10 km, was found to decrease rapidly from 6.9×1015 molecules cm-2 to 2.5×1015 molecules cm-2 around 50°N and then to increase again north of 75°N. A sharp rise in the NO2 content was observed south of the subtropical jet but this could possibly be due to the increased depth of the troposphere above the aircraft in these regions.