Results from the flight of the Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy on the ATLAS-1 Space Shuttle Mission

Abstract

During the ATLAS-1 space shuttle mission, the ATMOS experiment, a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer operating in solar occultation mode from on-orbit (Farmer, 1987), collected data through more than 90 orbital sunrises and sunsets at latitudes between 30°N and 55°S. The resulting high-resolution infrared solar absorption spectra from these observations have so far been analyzed for the vertical profiles of several species (O3, HNO3, ClNO3, HCl, HF, N2O, CH4 and H2O) of immediate importance as correlative measurements for other satellite instruments, such as those carried on the Upper Atmospheric Research Satellite. Results for these gases together with those of other species measured by ATMOS, such as the more abundant man-made chlorofluorocarbons (CFC-11, CFC-12, HCFC-22) are compared with similar measurements made by this instrument from data acquired during its first flight in April, 1985. In the period between these two flights, the halogenated gases are expected to have increased measurably in concentration due to the continued release of the halogenated source gases. These ATMOS data provide a simultaneous measurement of the increase in the tropospheric source gases as well as the halogen sink species, HCl and HF.