Abstract. This paper presents extensive bias determination analyses of ozone observations from the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE) satellite instruments: the ACE Fourier Transform Spectrometer (ACE-FTS) and the Measurement of Aerosol Extinction in the Stratosphere and Troposphere Retrieved by Occultation (ACE-MAESTRO) instrument. Here we compare the latest ozone data products from ACE-FTS and ACE-MAESTRO with coincident observations from nearly 20 satellite-borne, airborne, balloonborne and ground-based instruments, by analysing volume mixing ratio profiles and partial column densities. The ACE-FTS version 2.2 Ozone Update product reports more ozone than most correlative measurements from the upper troposphere to the lower mesosphere. At altitude levels from 16 to 44 km, the average values of the mean relative differences are nearly all within +1 to +8%. At higher altitudes (45-60 km), the ACE-FTS ozone amounts are significantly larger than those of the comparison instruments, with mean relative differences of up to +40% (about +20% on average). For the ACE-MAESTRO version 1.2 ozone data product, mean relative differences are within ±10% (average values within ±6%) between 18 and 40 km for both the sunrise and sunset measurements. At higher altitudes (∼35-55 km), systematic biases of opposite sign are found between the ACE-MAESTRO sunrise and sunset observations. While ozone amounts derived from the ACE-MAESTRO sunrise occultation data are often smaller than the coincident observations (with mean relative differences down to −10%), the sunset occultation profiles for ACE-MAESTRO show results that are qualitatively similar to ACE-FTS, indicating a large positive bias (mean relative differences within +10 to +30%) in the 45-55 km altitude range. In contrast, there is no significant systematic difference in bias found for the ACE-FTS sunrise and sunset measurements.

Abstract. Vertical profiles of NO 2 and NO have been obtained from solar occultation measurements by the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE), using an infrared Fourier Transform Spectrometer (ACE-FTS) and (for NO 2 ) an ultraviolet-visible-near-infrared spectrometer, MAESTRO (Measurement of Aerosol Extinction in the Stratosphere and Troposphere Retrieved by Occultation). In this paper, the quality of the ACE-FTS version 2.2 NO 2 and NO and the MAESTRO version 1.2 NO 2 data are assessed using other solar occultation measurements (HALOE, SAGE II, SAGE III, POAM III, SCIAMACHY), stellar occultation measurements (GOMOS), limb measurements (MIPAS, OSIRIS), nadir measurements (SCIA-MACHY), balloon-borne measurements (SPIRALE, SAOZ) and ground-based measurements (UV-VIS, FTIR). Time differences between the comparison measurements were reduced using either a tight coincidence criterion, or where possible, chemical box models. ACE-FTS NO 2 and NO and the MAESTRO NO 2 are generally consistent with the correlative data. The ACE-FTS and MAESTRO NO 2 volume mixing ratio (VMR) profiles agree with the profiles from other satellite data sets to within about 20% between 25 and 40 km, with the exception of MIPAS ESA (for ACE-FTS) and SAGE II (for ACE-FTS (sunrise) and MAESTRO) and suggest a negative bias between 23 and 40 km of about 10%. MAESTRO reports larger VMR values than the ACE-FTS. In comparisons with HALOE, ACE-FTS NO VMRs typically (on average) agree to ±8% from 22 to 64 km and to +10% from 93 to 105 km, with maxima of 21% and 36%, respectively. Partial column comparisons for NO 2 show that there is quite good agreement between the ACE instruments and the FTIRs, with a mean difference of +7.3% for ACE-FTS and +12.8% for MAESTRO.

[1] The stratospheric ozone depletion observed in polar regions is caused by several catalytic cycles induced by reactive chlorine and bromine species. By reacting with BrO, ClO causes the formation of OClO which is considered as a proxy of the halogen activation. We present the first global determination of the stratospheric OClO distribution measured during the year 2003 by the stellar occultation spectrometer GOMOS. Besides its expected polar abundance, we discovered the presence of a worldwide OClO layer in the upper stratosphere. At lower altitudes, OClO seems also to be present beyond the limit of the polar vortices, an unreported feature. [2] The quantitative explanation of the recurrent polar ozone hole during springtime requires an accurate knowledge of the ClO and BrO number density vertical profiles. Important progress has been made in the last decade to improve our understanding of the inorganic chlorine (Cl y ) chemistry. Chlorine reservoir gases (such as ClONO 2 and HCl) are converted into reactive species (ClO and ClOOCl) at the surface of particles present in polar stratospheric clouds. These species are responsible for a very efficient catalytic destruction of ozone if they are not inactivated by a conversion into reservoir gases such as HCl or ClONO 2 , a process that is weakened by the polar denitrification in the presence of polar stratospheric clouds. A direct consequence of the halogen activation is the production of OClO via the main branch of the reaction (1a) (see the 2002 JPL kinetics report by Sander et al. ClO þ BrO ! ClOO þ Br 34 % ½ ð1bÞ

[1] The Spectroscopy for the Investigation of the Characteristics of the Atmosphere of Mars (SPICAM) instrument on board Mars Express has successfully performed one Martian year of measurements. Nadir UV (200-310 nm) measurements allowed it to build maps of ice cloud optical depth distribution for all seasons. The development and decay of the aphelion cloud belt (ACB) and polar hoods were observed. The characteristic values of the cloud optical thickness were 0.1-0.3 at the early stage of the ACB formation in the solar longitude range L s = 20-60°. After L s = 93°, the well-developed ACB showed cloud optical thicknesses varying between 0.3 and 0.8. The ACB quickly decayed after L s = 140°. Both polar hoods were observed during their development and decay stages, showing cloud optical thicknesses of about 0.35. The north polar hood started to develop at L s = 160°and the south one at L s = 330°. Estimates of water content in the ice clouds gave values of 0.35-1.8 gm À2 for ACB and 0.4 gm À2 for the polar hoods. A comparison with water vapor abundance showed that only a small fraction (10-20% for ACB and 30% for the polar hoods) of total water content in the atmosphere was accumulated in clouds. The Martian surface albedo at the wavelength 300 nm appeared very low (0.004-0.018) and exhibited anticorrelation with the visual albedo consistent with optical properties of iron oxides abundant in Martian soils. The investigation of a regional dust storm allowed the estimation of dust optical parameters at the wavelength 300 nm (asymmetry factor g d = 0.8 and single scattering albedo s d = 0.6).

Abstract. The Canadian ACE (Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment) mission is dedicated to the retrieval of a large number of atmospheric trace gas species using the solar occultation technique in the infrared and UV/visible spectral domain. However, two additional solar disk imagers (at 525 nm and 1020 nm) were added for a number of reasons, including the retrieval of aerosol and cloud products. In this paper, we present first comparison results for these imager aerosol/cloud optical extinction coefficient profiles, with the ones derived from measurements performed by 3 solar occultation instruments (SAGE II, SAGE III, POAM III), one stellar occultation instrument (GOMOS) and one limb sounder (OSIRIS). The results indicate that the ACE imager profiles are of good quality in the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere, although the aerosol extinction for the visible channel at 525 nm contains a significant negative bias at higher altitudes, while the relative differences indicate that ACE profiles are almost always too high at 1020 nm. Both problems are probably related to ACE imager instrumental issues.