Retrieval of Aerosol Properties from Multi-Spectral Extinction Measurements

The direct-beam spectral extinction of solar radiation contains information on atmospheric composition in a form that is essentially free from the data analysis complexities that often arise from multiple scattering. Ground based Multi-Filter Shadowband Radiometer (MFRSR) measurements provide such information for the vertical atmospheric column path, while solar occultation measurements from a satellite platform provide horizontal slices through the atmosphere. We describe application of a Multi-Spectral Atmospheric Column Extinction (MACE) analysis technique used to analyze MFRSR data also to occultation measurements made by SAGE 11. For analysis, we select the 1985 Nevado del Ruiz volcanic eruption period to retrieve atmospheric profiles of ozone and NO2, and changes in the stratospheric aerosol size and optical depth. The time evolution of volcanic aerosol serves as a passive tracer to study stratospheric dynamics, and changes in particle size put constraints on the sulfur chemistry modeling of volcanic aerosols.