Profiles of CFC-11 (CCl₃F), CFC-12 (CCl₂F₂) and HCFC-22 (CHF₂Cl) have been obtained from Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) solar absorption measurements above the Saint-Denis (St Denis) and Maïdo sites at Réunion Island (21° S, 55° E) with low vertical resolution. FTIR profile retrievals are performed by the well-established SFIT4 program and the detail retrieval strategies along with the systematic/random uncertainties of CFC-11, CFC-12 and HCFC-22 are discussed in this study. The FTIR data of all three species are sensitive to the whole troposphere and the lowermost stratosphere, with the peak sensitivity between 5 and 10 km.

The ground-based FTIR data have been compared with the collocated Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS/ENVISAT) data and found to be in good agreement: the observed mean relative biases and standard deviations of the differences between the smoothed MIPAS and FTIR partial columns (6–30 km) are (−4.3 and 4.4 %), (−2.9 and 4.6 %) and (−0.7 and 4.8 %) for CFC-11, CFC-12 and HCFC-22, respectively, which are within the combined error budgets from both measurements. The season cycles of CFC-11, CFC-12 and HCFC-22 from FTIR measurements and MIPAS data show a similar variation: concentration is highest in February–April and lowest in August–October.

The trends derived from the combined St Denis and Maïdo FTIR time series are −0.86 ± 0.12 and 2.84 ± 0.06 % year⁻¹ for CFC-11 and HCFC-22, respectively, for the period 2004 to 2016, and −0.76 ± 0.05 % year⁻¹ for CFC-12 for 2009 to 2016. These measurements are consistent with the trends observed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Global Monitoring Division's (GMD) Halocarbons & other Atmospheric Trace Species Group (HATS) measurements at Samoa (14.2° S, 170.5° W) for CFC-11 (−0.87 ± 0.04 % year⁻¹), but slightly weaker for HCFC-22 (3.46 ± 0.05 %) year⁻¹ and stronger for CFC-12 (−0.60 ± 0.02 % year⁻¹).