Earth Observation Data Group

Abstract:

Stratospheric aerosol loading is reviewed in the context of the parameters necessary to describe stratospheric aerosol in chemical and radiative studies. The large spatial and temporal variability of sulphate aerosol loading makes a single reference atmosphere impractical and it is suggested that the liquid content of sulphate aerosols be used in the construction of future reference atmospheres as this parameter is invariant to temperature changes. The construction of an a posteriori climatology is recommended (C) 1998 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.

Abstract:

The simultaneous measurements of temperature, aerosol extinction, and concentrations of radiatively active gases by several instruments aboard the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite permit an assessment of the uncertainties in the diagnosed stratospheric heating rates and in the resulting residual circulation. In this paper, measurements taken by the Cryogenic Limb Array Etalon Spectrometer (CLAES) are used to compute the circulation and to compare it against values obtained previously from the measurements obtained by the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS). There is a broad agreement between the two sets of calculations and known biases in either CLAES or MLS ozone and temperature measurements are found to be responsible for the areas of disagreement. The inclusion of aerosols has improved the estimates of the residual circulation in the lower stratosphere during the 1992-93 period covered by CLAES. Present estimates of the aerosol heating are significantly different from those found in other studies, probably as a result of differences in the treatment of tropospheric clouds and in the adopted vertical profiles of aerosol extinction. Moreover, a large uncertainty in these estimates is caused by the uncertainties in the assumed refractive indices for sulfuric acid solutions.

Abstract:

The simultaneous measurements of temperature, aerosol extinction, and concentrations of radiatively active gases by several instruments aboard the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite permit an assessment of the uncertainties in the diagnosed stratospheric heating rates and in the resulting residual circulation. In this paper, measurements taken by the Cryogenic Limb Array Etalon Spectrometer (CLAES) are used to compute the circulation and to compare it against values obtained previously from the measurements obtained by the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS). There is a broad agreement between the two sets of calculations and known biases in either CLAES or MLS ozone and temperature measurements are found to be responsible for the areas of disagreement. The inclusion of aerosols has improved the estimates of the residual circulation in the lower stratosphere during the 1992-93 period covered by CLAES. Present estimates of the aerosol heating are significantly different from those found in other studies, probably as a result of differences in the treatment of tropospheric clouds and in the adopted vertical profiles of aerosol extinction. Moreover, a large uncertainty in these estimates is caused by the uncertainties in the assumed refractive indices for sulfuric acid solutions.

Abstract:

Gas-phase photochemical models do not account for the formation of a secondary altitude HNO3 maximum in the upper stratosphere at high latitudes during winter, suggesting that some processes are missing in the currently accepted chemistry of reactive nitrogen species [Kawa et al., 1995]. Heterogeneous chemistry on aerosol particles had been discounted as the cause because the aerosol surface area is expected to be very low at these altitudes. We have coupled a sulphate aerosol microphysical model to a chemical transport model to investigate this model deficiency in the Arctic during January 1992. The aerosol model predicts the formation of small sulphate particles at 1100 K. Comparisons with cryogenic limb array etalon spectrometer (CLAES) HNO3 and improved stratospheric and mesospheric sounder (ISAMS) N2O5 observations show that the heterogeneous conversion of N2O5 to HNO3 on the modeled small sulphate particles can account for some of the unexpected features seen in Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) observations.