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Lidar observations of the Pinatubo aerosol layer at Thule, Greenland
Author(s) -
Di Girolamo Paolo,
Cacciani Marco,
di Sarra Alcide,
Fiocco Giorgio,
Fuà Daniele
Publication year - 1994
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 - 10.1029/93gl02892
Subject(s) - aerosol , stratosphere , polar vortex , atmospheric sciences , environmental science , lidar , arctic , sulfate aerosol , climatology , breakup , geology , meteorology , oceanography , geography , remote sensing , physics , mechanics
Lidar measurements of the stratospheric aerosol content have been carried out in Thule (Greenland), in connection with the European Arctic Stratospheric Ozone Experiment (EASOE). Aerosols attributable to the Pinatubo eruption were detected in the stratosphere late in September; during autumn and early winter the stratospheric aerosol load slowly increased. In the region above approximately 18 km the aerosol load depended on the location of the station relative to the polar vortex. A temporary increase of the aerosol concentration was detected up to about 26 km at the beginning of February, when Thule was located for a few days outside the vortex. A final increase of the aerosol load was related with the final breakup of the vortex. The aerosol integrated backscatter values ranged between 0.001 and 0.005 sr −1 during most of the winter, and increased up to 0.007 sr −1 in early spring; in this period the aerosol columnar mass was estimated to be as high as 0.1 g m −2 .