Sixteen-year trends in atmospheric trace gases from orbit

•Altitude-latitude distributions for 44 atmospheric molecules.•Sixteen-year trends in composition from atmospheric chemistry experiment (ACE) satellite.•Solar occultation measurements with ACE fourier transform spectrometer (ACE-FTS).•Volume mixing ratios (VMRs) profiles retrieved with ACE-FTS. The composition of the Earth's atmosphere is changing. The Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE) satellite measures infrared transmission spectra of the atmosphere using the Sun as a light source. ACE provides a global view of atmospheric composition from altitude composition profiles for 44 molecules starting in February 2004. Altitude-latitude abundance distributions and composition trends for more than 16 years are presented and briefly discussed. The ACE trends provide a quantitative state-of-the-atmosphere report.