The distribution of carbon monoxide and ozone in the free troposphere

Abstract

The two-dimensional distributions of CO and O3 in the free troposphere during July and August, 1974, are discussed. The data confirm the previous findings that both of these gases are considerably more abundant in the northern hemisphere, but the degree of the asymmetry is somewhat different from what had been reported previously, especially for CO. When examined with respect to other available data sets, the conclusion is drawn that a pronounced seasonal cycle exists for CO in both hemispheres which may be driven by the likely seasonal cycle of the OH radical. The data also indicate that CO concentrations exhibit significant variability with height in the northern hemisphere, whereas southern hemispheric concentrations are quite constant with altitude except in cases where interhemispheric exchanges of air may be occurring. A discussion on the vertical and horizontal transport processes inferred from the CO and O3 measurements is presented. The possible interdependence of the photochemical cycles of these two trace gases is also discussed.