Principal component analysis applied to multiwavelength lidar aerosol backscatter and extinction measurements

The use of powerful Raman backscatter lidars enables one to measure the stratospheric aerosol extinction profile independently of the backscatter, thereby obtaining additional information to aid in retrieving the physical characteristics of the sampled aerosol. We used principal component analysis to construct a self-consistent method for the retrieval of aerosol bulk physical and optical properties from multiwavelength elastic and/or inelastic Raman backscatter lidar signals. The procedure is applied to synthetic and actual lidar signals. We found that aerosol surface area and volume can be usefully estimated and that the use of Raman-derived extinction data leads to a notable improvement in the accuracy of the estimations.

In Situ Observations of Aerosol and Chlorine Monoxide After the 1991 Eruption of Mount Pinatubo: Effect of Reactions on Sulfate Aerosol

Highly resolved aerosol size distributions measured from high-altitude aircraft can be used to describe the effect of the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo on the stratospheric aerosol. In some air masses, aerosol mass mixing ratios increased by factors exceeding 100 and aerosol surface area concentrations increased by factors of 30 or more. Increases in aerosol surface area concentration were accompanied by increases in chlorine monoxide at mid-latitudes when confounding factors were controlled. This observation supports the assertion that reactions occurring on the aerosol can increase the fraction of stratospheric chlorine that occurs in ozone-destroying forms.