The VAMOS Ocean-Cloud-Atmosphere-Land Regional Experiment (VOCALS-REx) was conducted from 15 October to 15 November 2008 in the South East Pacific (SEP) region to investigate interactions between land, sea and atmosphere in this unique tropical eastern ocean environment and to improve the skill of global and regional models in = presenting the region. This study synthesises selected aircraft, ship = d surface site observations from VOCALS-REx to statistically summarise = d characterise the atmospheric composition and variability of the = rine Boundary Layer (MBL) and Free Troposphere (FT) along the 20 = grees S parallel between 70 degrees W and 85 degrees W. Significant = nal gradients in mean MBL sub-micron aerosol particle size and = mposition, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and ozone were seen over = e campaign, with a generally more variable and polluted coastal = vironment and a less variable, more pristine remote maritime regime. = adients in aerosol and trace gas concentrations were observed to be = sociated with strong gradients in cloud droplet number. The FT was = ten more polluted in terms of trace gases than the MBL in the mean; = wever increased variability in the FT composition suggests an episodic = ture to elevated concentrations. This is consistent with a complex = rtical interleaving of airmasses with diverse sources and hence = llutant concentrations as seen by generalised back trajectory = alysis, which suggests contributions from both local and long-range = urces. Furthermore, back trajectory analysis demonstrates that the = served zonal gradients both in the boundary layer and the free = oposphere are characteristic of marked changes in airmass history with = stance offshore - coastal boundary layer airmasses having been in = cent contact with the local land surface and remote maritime airmasses = ving resided over ocean for in excess of ten days. Boundary layer = mposition to the east of 75 degrees W was observed to be dominated by = astal emissions from sources to the west of the Andes, with evidence = r diurnal pumping of the Andean boundary layer above the height of the = rine capping inversion. Analysis of intra-campaign variability in = mospheric composition was not found to be significantly correlated = th observed low-frequency variability in the large scale flow pattern; = mpaign-average interquartile ranges of CO, SO(2) and O(3) = ncentrations at all longitudes were observed to dominate over much = aller differences in median concentrations calculated between periods = different flow regimes. The campaign climatology presented here aims = provide a valuable dataset to inform model simulation and future = ocess studies, particularly in the context of aerosol-cloud = teraction and further evaluation of dynamical processes in the SEP = gion for conditions analogous to those during VOCALS-REx. To this end, = r results are discussed in terms of coastal, transitional and remote = atial regimes in the MBL and FT and a gridded dataset are provided as = resource.