Results and Mission Overview from (almost) Ten Years in Orbit: The Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE)
Walker, Kaley1; Boone, Chris D.2; Bernath, Peter F.3; McElroy, C. Thomas4
1University of Toronto, Department of Physics, CANADA; 2University of Waterloo, Department of Chemistry, CANADA; 3Old Dominion University, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, UNITED STATES; 4York University, Department of Earth and Space Science and Engineering, CANADA

In August 2013, the Canadian-led Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE) will complete its tenth year in-orbit on board the SCISAT satellite. SCISAT/ACE is uses infrared and UV-visible spectroscopy to investigate the chemistry and dynamics of the Earth's atmosphere. The primary instrument on-board, the ACE Fourier Transform Spectrometer (ACE-FTS) is a high-resolution (0.02 cm-1) FTS operating between 750 and 4400 cm-1. It also contains two filtered imagers (0.525 and 1.02 microns) to measure atmospheric extinction due to clouds and aerosols. The second instrument is a dual UV-visible-NIR spectrophotometer called ACE-MAESTRO (Measurements of Aerosol Extinction in the Stratosphere and Troposphere Retrieved by Occultation) which was designed to extend the ACE wavelength coverage to the 280-1030 nm spectral region.

The ACE-FTS and ACE-MAESTRO instruments have been making regular solar occultation measurements since 6 months after launch and, from these measurements, altitude profiles of over 30 different atmospheric trace gas species, temperature and pressure are obtained. The 650 km altitude, 74 degree circular orbit provides global measurement coverage with a focus on the Arctic and Antarctic regions. The primary ACE science goal is to investigate the processes that control the distribution of ozone in the stratosphere and upper troposphere with a focus on the Arctic. The secondary science goals are to explore chemistry-climate coupling, to study biomass burning emissions in free troposphere and to investigate the radiative impacts of aerosols and clouds.

This presentation will give an overview of the ACE mission and its status and will provide a survey of the scientific results obtained from ACE over the lifetime of the mission. A focus will be given to recent results and data products from the ACE Science Team. In addition, this presentation will discuss potential missions to continue measurements of this type for atmospheric monitoring and scientific studies.