Nitrogen dioxide column content measurements made from an aircraft between 5° and 82°N

In the first two weeks of May 1981, the research jet of the German Aerospace Research Establishment (DFVLR) was charted to fly a meridional section between 5° and 82°N. A scanning filter photometer, developed at the Max Planck Institut für Aeronomie to measure column content values of atmospheric ozone and nitrogen dioxide, using ultra violet and visible absorption techniques, constituted part of the experimental payload for this campaign that was called SIMOC. The vertical NO₂ column content above the aircraft, flying at approximately 10 km, was found to decrease rapidly from 6.9×10¹⁵ molecules cm^-2 to 2.5×10¹⁵ molecules cm^-2 around 50°N and then to increase again north of 75°N. A sharp rise in the NO₂ content was observed south of the subtropical jet but this could possibly be due to the increased depth of the troposphere above the aircraft in these regions.