An overview of the Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) and preliminary results

The Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) experiment has observed vertical profiles and pressure versus latitude cross sections of temperature HCl, HF, CH4, H2O, NO, NO2, O3, and aerosols over the range from 80 deg S to 80 deg N. An in-orbit precision of better than 0.3 ppbv has been demonstrated for HCl, HF, NO, NO2 and less than 0.6 ppmv for the other channels. Comparisons with correlative measurements at this early stage are encouraging. Nitric oxide has been observed over the range from the upper troposphere to 130-km. Latitudinal cross sections of the long-lived tracers CH4 and HF show clear indications of the effect of the general circulation.