COMPARISON OF COLUMN ABUNDANCES FROM 3 INFRARED SPECTROMETERS DURING AASE-II

Three Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometers were on board th e NASA DC-8 during the second Airborne Arctic Stratospheric Expedition (AASE II) in 1992. Two FTIRs used solar absorption and one used therm al emission. We compare over 2000 measurements from these 3 FTIRs, on 12 DC-8 flights, for closely coincident air masses and times, both ins ide and outside the polar vortex. In the majority of cases the offset biases are quite small, in the range 1-4%, and comparable to the absol ute precisions expected. In most cases the rms scatter is in the range 4-11%; this scatter is unlikely to be geophysical, but rather is prob ably instrumental or analytical in origin.