Interpretation of solar extinction data for stratospheric aerosols

This paper discusses the inversion problem for aerosols using the solar extinction method. A series of numerical experiments is described in which solar extinction measurement systems are modeled. A numerical model of a solar extinction measurement system has been coupled with model atmospheres that exhibit fine scale structures to produce numerically generated data signals. These signals were then inverted to study the effect that measurement errors and desired vertical resolution produce in the inverted results. Knowledge o2 the trade off between vertical resolution and the accuracy of inversion aid in the interpretation of the inverted results.