The MANTRA 2002 balloon flight from Vanscoy, Canada

The MANTRA series of high-altitude balloon flights is being undertaken to investigate changes in the concentrations of mid-latitude stratospheric ozone, and of nitrogen and chlorine compounds that play a role in ozone chemistry. Three balloons have been launched since August 1998, all from Vanscoy, Saskatchewan. Each carried a payload of instruments to measure vertical concentration profiles of stratospheric trace gases, and made observations from a float altitude of about 35 km for one day. Several of these instruments were flown 15-20 years ago, thus providing a link to historical data predating the onset of mid-latitude ozone loss. The third of these balloons was launched on September 3, 2002, and measurements were made by 11 instruments. In addition, four ground-based spectrometers were deployed at Vanscoy approximately two weeks prior to this flight, and a total of 15 independent ozonesonde flights were made. This paper provides an overview of the MANTRA 2002 balloon campaign, and briefly describes each of the instruments, the data acquired, and the status of data analysis. We expect to retrieve vertical profiles of O3, NO, NO2, HNO3, N2O, OH, H2O, CH4, CO2, aerosol extinction, pressure and temperature from O2 (as well as from sondes), and total columns of O3, NO2, SO2, and possibly BrO. Data analysis is complete for some instruments and ongoing for others. These data will be used to contribute to the validation of the SCIAMACHY, MIPAS, and GOMOS instruments on ENVISAT through the Category 1 CAL/VAL project #1335.