The Atmospheric Distribution of NO, O3, CO, and CH4 above the North Atlantic Based on the STRATOZ III Flight

In June 1984 several French and German research groups joined in the STRATOZ III aircraft campaign to measure the global distribution of a number of trace gases. The first part of that campaign led across the Northern Atlantic with stops at Prestwick, Scotland; Keflavik, Iceland; Sondrestrom, Greenland, and Goose Bay, Canada, all falling in the zonal belt between roughly 55° N and 65° N latitude (see Figure 1). During the ascents from and descents to these airports vertical profiles were measured for NO by Drummond et al., [1988] and for O₃, CO, CH₄ by Marenco et al. [1989a,b]. Figure 2 presents the data coverage projected onto the altitude by longitude plane at 60° N latitude. Also measured was PAN but with a much lower sampling density [Rudolph et al., 1987]. The measurements took place between the early morning on June 4, 1984, beginning with the descent to Prestwick, and the late morning of June 6, 1984, ending with the ascent from Goose Bay, and resulted in altogether 8 vertical profiles. As indicated in Figure 2 the aircraft, while gradually climbing or descending, also covered large horizontal distances. Thus, the term “vertical profile” is somewhat of a figure of speech. The flight pattern, however, is useful in more evenly filling the altitude by longitude plane with data points.