Spectral signatures of polar stratospheric clouds and sulfate aerosol

Journal Article · Sat Oct 15 04:00:00 EDT 1994 · Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1994)051<3027:SSOPSC>2.0.CO;2· OSTI ID:41696

Massie, S T; Bailey, P L; Gille, J C ^[1]; Lee, E C ^[2]; Mergenthaler, J L; Roche, A E; Kumer, J B ^[3]; Fishbein, E F; Waters, J W ^[4]; Lahoz, W A ^[5]

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1. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)
2. Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)
3. Lockheed Palo Alto Research Lab., CA (United States)
4. California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (United States)
5. Univ. of Reading (United Kingdom)

Multiwavelength observations of Antarctic and midlatitude aerosol by the Cryogenic Limb Array Etalon Spectrometer (CLAES) experiment on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite are used to demonstrate a technique that identifies the location of polar stratospheric clouds. The technique discussed uses the normalized area of the triangle formed by the aerosol extinctions at 925, 1257, and 1605 cm{sup {minus}1} (10.8, 8.0, and 6.2 {mu}m) to derive a spectral aerosol measure M of the aerosol spectrum. Mie calculations for spherical particles and T-matrix calculations for spheroidal particles are used to generate theoretical spectral extinction curves for sulfate and polar stratospheric cloud particles. The values of the spectral aerosol measure M for the sulfate and polar stratospheric cloud particles are shown to be different. Aerosol extinction data, corresponding to temperatures between 180 and 220 K at a pressure of 46 hPa (near 21-km altitude) for 18 August 1992, are used to demonstrate the technique. Thermodynamic calculations, based upon frost-point calculation and laboratory phase-equilibrium studies of nitric acid trihydrate, are used to predict the location of nitric acid trihydrate cloud particles. 47 refs., 22 figs., 3 tabs.

• OSTI ID: 41696
• Journal Information: Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Journal Name: Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences Journal Issue: 20 Vol. 51; ISSN 0022-4928; ISSN JAHSAK
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AEROSOLS
ANTARCTIC REGIONS
CLOUDS
POLAR REGIONS
REMOTE SENSING
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
SPECTRAL RESPONSE
STRATOSPHERE
SULFATES