Ground-based measurements of ozone and NO2 during MANTRA 1998 using a Zenith-sky spectrometer

A portable ground-based instrument has been constructed for the automated measurement of vertical column abundances of a number of gases pertinent to stratospheric ozone chemistry. The instrumentation is described in this paper and results are presented from the first set of field measurements, made during the Middle Atmosphere Nitrogen TRend Assessment (MANTRA) 1998 field campaign at Vanscoy, Saskatchewan, Canada. Zenith-sky spectra in the near ultraviolet and visible wavelength regions were recorded for a period of seven days, prior to and following the launch of the MANTRA balloon on 24 August 1998. The spectra were then analysed using the differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) technique in conjunction with a radiative transfer model to determine vertical column amounts of ozone and NO2. Ozone measurements compared favourably with concurrent observations by ozonesondes, a Brewer spectrophotometer, and satellite instruments. Vertical NO2 columns were in broad agreement with those determined by the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) satellite instrument.