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Radiative properties of Mount Pinatubo volcanic aerosols over the tropical Atlantic
Author(s) -
Saunders Roger
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/93gl00064
Subject(s) - irradiance , atmospheric sciences , aerosol , environmental science , volcano , shortwave , radiative transfer , troposphere , tropical atlantic , latitude , solar irradiance , climatology , geology , meteorology , physics , sea surface temperature , quantum mechanics , seismology , geodesy
Aircraft measurements of the broadband (0.3–3.0μm) and near infrared (0.7–3.0μm) optical depths of stratospheric aerosols over the south Atlantic five months after the eruption of Mount Pinatubo gave values in tropical latitudes up to 0.21 at 6°S. The measured downward shortwave irradiance was similar to the normal aerosol free case but 20% of the direct solar irradiance was scattered into the diffuse irradiance component. At 0.55μm wavelength an asymmetry factor of 0.75 decreasing to 0.5 at 2.2μm was inferred from narrowband radiances scattered by the aerosol. Model calculations using these measurements predict a decrease in tropospheric heating rate of less than 0.2°Cday −1 due to these aerosols.