The tropics play a central role in global climate. Emissions within the tropics, especially from biomass burning, contribute substantially to the global budgets of many important trace gases. These pollutants significantly influence tropospheric and stratospheric chemistry. Solar absorption-FTIR measuremenets have been performed in Paramaribo (Suriname) to study the composition of the whole atmosphere, including the Tropical Tropopause Layer (TTL) and the stratosphere.