In the framework of the In Service Aircraft for Global Observing System (IAGOS) program, airborne in-situ O 3 and CO measurements are performed routinely using in-service aircraft, providing vertical profiles from the surface to about 10–12 km. Due to the specificity of IAGOS measurements (measurements around busy international airports), uncertainties exist on their representativeness in the lower troposphere as they may be impacted by emissions related to airport activities and/or other aircraft. In this study, we thus investigate how the IAGOS measurements in the lower troposphere compare with nearby surface stations (from the local Air Quality monitoring network (AQN)) and more distant regional surface stations (from the Global Atmospheric Watch (GAW) network). The study focuses on Frankfurt but some results at other European airports (Vienna, Paris) are also discussed. Results indicate that the IAGOS observations close to the surface do not appear to be strongly impacted by local emissions related to airport activities. In terms of mixing ratio distribution, seasonal variations and trends, the CO and O 3 mixing ratios measured by IAGOS in the first few hundred metres above the surface have similar characteristics to the mixing ratios measured at surrounding urban background stations. Higher in altitude, both the difference with data from the local AQN and the consistency with the GAW regional stations are higher, which indicates a larger representativeness of the IAGOS data. Despite few quantitative differences with Frankfurt, consistent results are obtained in the two other cities Vienna and Paris. Based on 11 years of data (2002–2012), this study thus demonstrates that IAGOS observations in the lowest troposphere can be used as a complement to surface stations to study the air quality in/around the agglomeration, providing important information on the vertical distribution of pollution.

Ozone is generally assumed to have weak diurnal variations in the free troposphere due to lower production rates than in the boundary layer, in addition to a much lower NO titration and the absence of dry deposition at the surface. However, this hypothesis has not been proven due to a lack of high frequency observations at multiple times per day. For the first time, we take benefit from the frequent O 3 vertical profiles measured above Frankfurt in the framework of the MOZAIC-IAGOS program to investigate the diurnal variations of O 3 mixing ratios at multiple pressure levels throughout the troposphere. With about 21,000 aircraft profiles between 1994 and 2012 (98 per month on average), distributed throughout the day, this is the only dataset that can allow such a study. As expected, strong diurnal variations are observed close to the surface, in particular during spring and summer (enhanced photochemistry and surface deposition). Higher in altitude, our observations show a decrease of the diurnal cycle, with no diurnal cycle discernible above 750 hPa, whatever the season. Similar results are observed for the different percentiles of the O 3 distribution (5 th , 25 th , 50 th , 75 th , 95 th ). An insight of the changes of the diurnal cycles between 1994–2003 and 2004–2012 is also given. We found higher O 3 mixing ratios during the latter period, particularly on the lowest pressure levels, despite lower mixing ratios during summer.