An Overview of the Relevant Results from the ATMOS Missions of 1985 and 1992

The Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy (ATMOS) experiment employs a Fourier transform spectrometer to record infrared solar spectra at orbital sunrises and sunsets from on board the Space Shuttle. The data returned from 19 occultations covered by the instrument's first flight as part of the Spacelab 3 payload in April, 1985, have been analyzed for the profiles of some thirty atmospheric constituents. These results included a number of species not previously detected or measured, an investigation of the NO(y) and Cl(x) budgets, and, as a whole, have been used as the input for critically evaluating stratospheric photochemical models. The instrument was flown again on the ATLAS-1 shuttle mission in March, 1992, where it obtained data through nearly 100 solar occultation events located between latitudes of 30 deg N and 55 deg S. Results from the 1985 mission as well as preliminary results from the more recent 1992 flight are summarized here.