Abstract. The near-infrared nadir spectra measured by SCIAMACHY on-board ENVISAT contain information on the vertical columns of important atmospheric trace gases such as carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH 4 ), and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). The scientific algorithm WFM-DOAS has been used to retrieve this information. For CH 4 and CO 2 also column averaged mixing ratios (XCH 4 and XCO 2 ) have been determined by simultaneous measurements of the dry air mass. All available spectra of the year 2003 have been processed. We describe the algorithm versions used to generate the data (v0.4; for methane also v0.41) and show comparisons of monthly averaged data over land with global measurements (CO from MOPITT) and models (for CH 4 and CO 2 ). We show that elevated concentrations of CO resulting from biomass burning have been detected in reasonable agreement with MOPITT. The measured XCH 4 is enhanced over India, south-east Asia, and central Africa in September/October 2003 in line with model simulations, where they result from surface sources of methane such as rice fields and wetlands. The CO 2 measurements over the Northern Hemisphere show the lowest mixing ratios around July in qualitative agreement with model simulations indicating that the large scale pattern of CO 2 uptake by the growing vegetation can be detected with SCIAMACHY. We also identified potential problems such as a too low inter-hemispheric gradient for CO, a time dependent bias of the methane columns on the order of a few percent, and a few percent too high CO 2 over parts of the Sahara.

[1] Vertical profiles of carbon monoxide (CO) mixing ratio retrieved from MOPITT measurements have been analyzed. We find that variations in the vertical structure of CO can be detected in the MOPITT data. The Asian summer monsoon plume in CO is observed for the first time as a strong enhancement of CO in the upper troposphere (UT) over India and southern China indicating the effect of deep convective transport. Similarly, zonal mean height latitude cross-sections for the months of September -December, 2002 indicate deep convective transport of CO from biomass burning in the southern tropics. These findings show that MOPITT CO can provide valuable information on vertical transport phenomena in the troposphere.

Abstract. The three carbon gases carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), and methane (CH 4 ) are important atmospheric constituents affecting air quality and climate. The near-infrared nadir spectra measured by SCIAMACHY on ENVISAT contain information on the vertical columns of these gases which we retrieve using a modified DOAS algorithm (WFM-DOAS or WFMD). Our main data products are CO vertical columns and dry-air column averaged mixing ratios of methane (CH 4 ) and CO 2 (denoted XCH 4 and XCO 2 ). For CO and CH 4 we present new results for the year 2003 obtained with an improved version of WFM-DOAS (WFMDv0.5) retrieved from Level 1 version 4 (Lv1v4) spectra. This data set has recently been compared with a network of ground based FTIR stations. Here we describe the WFMDv0.5 algorithm, present global and regional maps, and comparisons with global reference data. We show that major problems of the previous versions (v0.4 and v0.41) related to the varying ice-layer on the SCIAMACHY channel 8 detector have been solved. Compared to MOPITT the SCIAMACHY CO columns are on average higher by about 10-20%. Regionally, however, especially over central South America, differences can be much larger. For methane we present global and regional maps which are compared to TM5 model simulations performed using standard methane emission inventories. We show that methane source regions can be clearly detected with SCIAMACHY. We also show that the methane data product can be significantly further improved using Lv1v5 spectra with improved calibration. For CO 2 we present three years of SCIAMACHY CO 2 measurements over Park Falls, Wisconsin, USA, retrieved from Lv1v5. We show that the quality of CO 2 retrieved from Correspondence to: M. Buchwitz (michael.buchwitz@iup.physik.uni-bremen.de) these spectra is significantly higher compared to WFMDv0.4 XCO 2 retrieved from Lv1v4.

[1] Denitrification has been studied using measurements of stratospheric HNO 3 and N 2 O by the Airborne Submillimeter Radiometer (ASUR), operated on board the NASA DC-8 during SOLVE/THESEO 2000. Lidar measurements taken on board the same aircraft have been used to distinguish between temporary uptake of HNO 3 in polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) and denitrification events. To derive an NO y budget, ClNO 3 data by balloonborne and ground-based Fourier transform infrared measurements and a model estimate of NO x + 2N 2 O 5 have been considered. The HNO 3 profiles of sporadic ASUR measurements without PSC coverage in January suggest that denitrification had started in the vortex core region by then. Vortexwide denitrification was found in midMarch 2000. Corrected for diabatic descent using the N 2 O measurements, a vortexaveraged NO y deficit between 1.2 ± 0.9 ppb at about 16 km altitude and 5.3 ± 2.7 ppb at about 20.5 km altitude was derived compared to December 1999, based on an observed decrease in HNO 3 between 2.2 and 3.5 ppb during this time period. A shift in the NO y partitioning from HNO 3 toward ClNO 3 of about 0.4 to 0.7 ppb was observed in midMarch compared to December, indicating that chlorine deactivation was occurring. Comparisons with the SLIMCAT three-dimensional chemical transport model applying denitrification schemes based on ice and nitric acid trihydrate particles in equilibrium, respectively, reveal agreement within the error bars at higher altitudes ($19 km) but show discrepancies at lower altitudes ($16 km). It is suggested that more sophisticated denitrification schemes are needed to generally describe denitrification processes.