The 'Measurement of H2O Absorption Cross-Sections for the Exploitation of GOME’ project is a European Space Agency (ESA) funded study. The GOME and SCIAMACHY instruments are downward-viewing satellite-borne spectrometers that observe back-scattered solar radiation from the Earth's atmosphere. Global data on the distributions and vertical profiles of a large number of chemical species present in the atmosphere can be determined from the observations. Ozone distributions are a key measurement, but many other atmospheric gases and vapours involved in ozone chemistry and global climate change are also measured. Water vapour is of particular significance because it dominates the energy balance of the atmosphere. Also the spectrum of water vapour must be adequately understood and accounted for when deriving the concentration or distribution of trace atmospheric species. The dataset contains distributions and vertical profiles of atmospheric chemical species (in particular ozone) as well as the distribution of trace atmospheric species. This dataset is public.