Articles | Volume 14, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2345-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2345-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
26 Mar 2021
Research article |
| 26 Mar 2021
| 26 Mar 2021
Retrieval of stratospheric aerosol size distribution parameters using satellite solar occultation measurements at three wavelengths
Felix Wrana
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Institute of Physics, University of Greifswald,
Felix-Hausdorff-Straße 6, 17489 Greifswald, Germany
Christian von Savigny
Institute of Physics, University of Greifswald,
Felix-Hausdorff-Straße 6, 17489 Greifswald, Germany
Jacob Zalach
Institute of Physics, University of Greifswald,
Felix-Hausdorff-Straße 6, 17489 Greifswald, Germany
Larry W. Thomason
NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, USA
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Felix Wrana, Terry Deshler, Christian Löns, Larry W. Thomason, and Christian von Savigny
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There is a natural and globally occurring layer of small droplets (aerosols) at roughly 20 km altitude in the atmosphere. In this work, the size of these droplets is calculated from satellite measurements for the years 2002 to 2005, which is important for the aerosol cooling effect on Earth's climate. These years are interesting because there were no large volcanic eruptions that would change the background state of the aerosols. The results are compared to reliable balloon-borne measurements.
Christine Pohl, Felix Wrana, Alexei Rozanov, Terry Deshler, Elizaveta Malinina, Christian von Savigny, Landon A. Rieger, Adam E. Bourassa, and John P. Burrows
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Knowledge of stratospheric aerosol characteristics is important for understanding chemical and climate aerosol feedbacks. Two particle size distribution parameters, the aerosol extinction coefficient and the effective radius, are obtained from SCIAMACHY limb observations. The aerosol characteristics show good agreement with independent data sets from balloon-borne and satellite observations. This data set expands the limited knowledge of stratospheric aerosol characteristics.
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The stratospheric aerosol layer is a naturally occurring and permanent layer of aerosol, in this case very small droplets of mostly sulfuric acid and water, that has a cooling effect on our climate. To quantify this effect and for our general understanding of stratospheric microphysical processes, knowledge of the size of those aerosol particles is needed. Using satellite measurements and atmospheric models we show that some volcanic eruptions can lead to on average smaller aerosol sizes.
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This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
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During the polar vortex season, so-called streamers can transport tropical air towards the pole in the middle stratosphere. This tropical air can get trapped in high-pressure areas at high latitudes after the polar vortex breaks down. In this study, remote sensing instruments are used to observe the course of such streamers by measuring the scattered solar radiation. Aerosols get transported to high latitudes at an altitude of about 25–35 km, increasing the aerosol mass there significantly.
Nicholas Ernest, Larry W. Thomason, and Terry Deshler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 2957–2968, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2957-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2957-2025, 2025
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We use balloon-borne measurements of aerosol size distribution (ASD) made by the University of Wyoming (UW) to derive distributions which are representative of the ASDs that underlie measurements made by the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment II (SAGE II). A simple single-mode log-normal distribution has in the past been used to derive ASD from SAGE II data; here we derive bimodal log-normal distributions, reproducing median aerosol properties measured by UW.
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The 2022 Hunga Tonga – Hunga Ha'apai eruption emitted about 150 Tg H2O that partly reached the upper polar Southern Hemisphere mesosphere in the beginning of 2024. Noctilucent clouds (NLCs) did not show a clear perturbation in their occurrence frequency, but the slight increase from mid-January to February could potentially have been caused by the additional H2O. It needed 2 years to reach the summer polar mesopause region, analogous to the 1883 Krakatoa eruption that is argued to have caused the first sightings of NLCs.
Felix Wrana, Terry Deshler, Christian Löns, Larry W. Thomason, and Christian von Savigny
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3717–3736, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3717-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3717-2025, 2025
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Anna Lange, Ulrike Niemeier, Alexei Rozanov, and Christian von Savigny
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1005, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1005, 2025
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Our paper investigates whether it is possible to observe injections of 1 and 2 Tg S/y (sulphur per year) into the stratosphere with the currently active satellite occultation instruments. The calculations show that, considering the natural variability and the assumptions made here, the stratospheric aerosols formed from emissions of 1 and 2 Tg S/y in the quasi steady-state phase can be detected, which is not the case in the first month of the two-year initial phase.
Mahesh Kovilakam, Larry W. Thomason, Magali Verkerk, Thomas Aubry, and Travis N. Knepp
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 535–553, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-535-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-535-2025, 2025
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The Global Space-based Stratospheric Aerosol Climatology (GloSSAC) is essential for understanding and modeling the climatic impacts of stratospheric aerosols, comprising data from various space-based measurements. Here, we examine the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite Limb Profiler (OMPS-LP) against other data sets, particularly the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) III/ISS, to discern differences and explore the applicability of OMPS data within the GloSSAC framework.
Christine Pohl, Felix Wrana, Alexei Rozanov, Terry Deshler, Elizaveta Malinina, Christian von Savigny, Landon A. Rieger, Adam E. Bourassa, and John P. Burrows
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4153–4181, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4153-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4153-2024, 2024
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Knowledge of stratospheric aerosol characteristics is important for understanding chemical and climate aerosol feedbacks. Two particle size distribution parameters, the aerosol extinction coefficient and the effective radius, are obtained from SCIAMACHY limb observations. The aerosol characteristics show good agreement with independent data sets from balloon-borne and satellite observations. This data set expands the limited knowledge of stratospheric aerosol characteristics.
Robert P. Damadeo, Viktoria F. Sofieva, Alexei Rozanov, and Larry W. Thomason
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3669–3678, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3669-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3669-2024, 2024
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Comparing different aerosol data sets for scientific studies often requires converting aerosol extinction data between different wavelengths. A common approximation for the spectral behavior of aerosol is the Ångström formula; however, this introduces biases. Using measurements across many different wavelengths from a single instrument, we derive an empirical relationship to both characterize this bias and offer a correction for other studies that may employ this analysis approach.
Travis N. Knepp, Mahesh Kovilakam, Larry Thomason, and Stephen J. Miller
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2025–2054, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2025-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2025-2024, 2024
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An algorithm is presented to derive a new SAGE III/ISS (Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III on the International Space Station) Level-2 product: the size distribution of stratospheric particles. This is a significant improvement over previous techniques in that we now provide uncertainty estimates for all inferred parameters. We also evaluated the stability of this method in retrieving bimodal distribution parameters. We present a special application to the 2022 eruption of Hunga Tonga.
Christian von Savigny, Anna Lange, Christoph G. Hoffmann, and Alexei Rozanov
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 2415–2422, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2415-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2415-2024, 2024
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It is well known that volcanic eruptions strongly affect the colours of the twilight sky. Typically, volcanic eruptions lead to enhanced reddish and violet twilight colours. In rare cases, however, volcanic eruptions can also lead to green sunsets. This study provides an explanation for the occurrence of these unusual green sunsets based on simulations with a radiative transfer model. Green volcanic sunsets require a sufficient stratospheric aerosol optical depth and specific aerosol sizes.
Anna Lange, Alexei Rozanov, and Christian von Savigny
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John M. C. Plane, Jörg Gumbel, Konstantinos S. Kalogerakis, Daniel R. Marsh, and Christian von Savigny
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 13255–13282, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13255-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13255-2023, 2023
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Christoph G. Hoffmann, Lena G. Buth, and Christian von Savigny
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The Madden–Julian oscillation is an important feature of weather in the tropics. Although it is mainly active in the troposphere, we show that it systematically influences the air temperature in the layers above, up to about 100 km altitude and from pole to pole. We have linked this to another known far-reaching process, interhemispheric coupling. This is basic research on atmospheric couplings and variability but might also be of interest for intraseasonal weather forecasting models.
Larry W. Thomason and Travis Knepp
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 10361–10381, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10361-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10361-2023, 2023
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We examine space-based observations of stratospheric aerosol to infer the presence of episodic smoke perturbations. We find that smoke's optical properties often show a consistent behavior but vary somewhat from event to event. We also find that the rate of smoke events observed in the 1984–2005 period is about half the rate of similar observations in the period from 2017 to the present; however, with such low overall rates, inferring change between the periods is difficult.
Felix Wrana, Ulrike Niemeier, Larry W. Thomason, Sandra Wallis, and Christian von Savigny
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 9725–9743, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9725-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9725-2023, 2023
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The stratospheric aerosol layer is a naturally occurring and permanent layer of aerosol, in this case very small droplets of mostly sulfuric acid and water, that has a cooling effect on our climate. To quantify this effect and for our general understanding of stratospheric microphysical processes, knowledge of the size of those aerosol particles is needed. Using satellite measurements and atmospheric models we show that some volcanic eruptions can lead to on average smaller aerosol sizes.
Sandra Wallis, Hauke Schmidt, and Christian von Savigny
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 7001–7014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7001-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7001-2023, 2023
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Strong volcanic eruptions are able to alter the temperature and the circulation of the middle atmosphere. This study simulates the atmospheric response to an idealized strong tropical eruption and focuses on the impact on the mesosphere. The simulations show a warming of the polar summer mesopause in the first November after the eruption. Our study indicates that this is mainly due to dynamical coupling in the summer hemisphere with a potential contribution from interhemispheric coupling.
Mahesh Kovilakam, Larry Thomason, and Travis Knepp
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2709–2731, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2709-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2709-2023, 2023
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The paper describes SAGE III/ISS aerosol/cloud categorization and its implications on Global Space-based Stratospheric Aerosol Climatology (GloSSAC). The presence of data from the SAGE type of multi-wavelength measurements is important in GloSSAC. The new aerosol/cloud categorization method described in this paper will help retain more measurements, particularly in the lower stratosphere during and following a volcanic event and other processes.
Christian von Savigny, Anna Lange, Anne Hemkendreis, Christoph G. Hoffmann, and Alexei Rozanov
Clim. Past, 18, 2345–2356, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2345-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2345-2022, 2022
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This study investigates the possibility of inferring information on aerosol optical depth from photographs of historic paintings. The idea – which has been applied in previous studies – is very interesting because it would provide an archive of the atmospheric aerosol loading covering many centuries. We show that twilight colours depend not only on the aerosol optical thickness, but also on several other parameters, making a quantitative estimate of aerosol optical depth very difficult.
Travis N. Knepp, Larry Thomason, Mahesh Kovilakam, Jason Tackett, Jayanta Kar, Robert Damadeo, and David Flittner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 5235–5260, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5235-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5235-2022, 2022
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We used aerosol profiles from the SAGE III/ISS instrument to develop an aerosol classification method that was tested on four case-study events (two volcanic, two fire) and supported with CALIOP aerosol products. The method worked well in identifying smoke and volcanic aerosol in the stratosphere for these events. Raikoke is presented as a demonstration of the limitations of this method.
Sandra Wallis, Christoph Gregor Hoffmann, and Christian von Savigny
Ann. Geophys., 40, 421–431, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-40-421-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-40-421-2022, 2022
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Although the 1991 eruption of Mt Pinatubo had a severe impact on Earth's climate, the effect of this event on the mesosphere is not well understood. We investigated satellite-borne temperature measurements from the HALOE instrument and found indications that a positive temperature anomaly is present in the tropical upper mesosphere at the beginning of the HALOE time series, which may be related to the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo.
Anna Lange, Gerd Baumgarten, Alexei Rozanov, and Christian von Savigny
Ann. Geophys., 40, 407–419, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-40-407-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-40-407-2022, 2022
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We investigate the influence of different parameters on the colour of noctilucent clouds (highest clouds in the atmosphere), using radiative transfer calculations. We determined the effect of the particle size, optical depth, single scattering/multiple scattering and ozone. For sufficiently large optical depth and for specific viewing geometries, ozone plays only a minor role in the blueish colour of noctilucent clouds (new result).
Mireia Papke Chica, Valerian Hahn, Tiziana Braeuer, Elena de la Torre Castro, Florian Ewald, Mathias Gergely, Simon Kirschler, Luca Bugliaro Goggia, Stefanie Knobloch, Martina Kraemer, Johannes Lucke, Johanna Mayer, Raphael Maerkl, Manuel Moser, Laura Tomsche, Tina Jurkat-Witschas, Martin Zoeger, Christian von Savigny, and Christiane Voigt
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-255, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-255, 2022
Preprint withdrawn
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The mixed-phase temperature regime in convective clouds challenges our understanding of microphysical and radiative cloud properties. We provide a rare and unique dataset of aircraft in situ measurements in a strong mid-latitude convective system. We find that mechanisms initiating ice nucleation and growth strongly depend on temperature, relative humidity, and vertical velocity and variate within the measured system, resulting in altitude dependent changes of the cloud liquid and ice fraction.
Julia Koch, Adam Bourassa, Nick Lloyd, Chris Roth, and Christian von Savigny
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 3191–3202, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3191-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3191-2022, 2022
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The mesopause, the region of the earth's atmosphere between 85 and 100 km, is hard to access by direct measurements. Therefore we look for parameters that can be measured using satellite or ground-based measurements. In this study we researched sodium airglow, a phenomenon that occurs when sodium atoms are excited by chemical reactions. We compared satellite measurements of the airglow and resulting sodium concentration profiles to gain a better understanding of the sodium in that region.
Elizaveta Malinina, Alexei Rozanov, Ulrike Niemeier, Sandra Wallis, Carlo Arosio, Felix Wrana, Claudia Timmreck, Christian von Savigny, and John P. Burrows
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 14871–14891, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14871-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14871-2021, 2021
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In the paper, changes in the stratospheric aerosol loading after the 2018 Ambae eruption were analyzed using OMPS-LP observations. The eruption was also simulated with the MAECHAM5-HAM global climate model. Generally, the model and observations agree very well. We attribute the good consistency of the results to a precisely determined altitude and mass of the volcanic injection, as well as nudging of the meteorological data. The radiative forcing from the eruption was estimated to be −0.13 W m−2.
Nellie Wullenweber, Anna Lange, Alexei Rozanov, and Christian von Savigny
Clim. Past, 17, 969–983, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-969-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-969-2021, 2021
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This study investigates the physical processes leading to the rare phenomenon of the sun appearing blue or green. The phenomenon is caused by anomalous scattering by, e.g., volcanic or forest fire aerosols. Unlike most other studies, our study includes a full treatment of the effect of Rayleigh scattering on the colour of the sun. We investigate different factors and revisit a historic example, i.e. the Canadian forest fires in 1950, that led to blue sun events in different European countries.
Ghassan Taha, Robert Loughman, Tong Zhu, Larry Thomason, Jayanta Kar, Landon Rieger, and Adam Bourassa
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 1015–1036, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1015-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1015-2021, 2021
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This work describes the newly released OMPS LP aerosol extinction profile multi-wavelength Version 2.0 algorithm and dataset. It is shown that the V2.0 aerosols exhibit significant improvements in OMPS LP retrieval performance in the Southern Hemisphere and at lower altitudes. The new product is compared to the SAGE III/ISS, OSIRIS and CALIPSO missions and shown to be of good quality and suitable for scientific studies.
Larry W. Thomason, Mahesh Kovilakam, Anja Schmidt, Christian von Savigny, Travis Knepp, and Landon Rieger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1143–1158, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1143-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1143-2021, 2021
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Measurements of the impact of volcanic eruptions on stratospheric aerosol loading by space-based instruments show show a fairly well-behaved relationship between the magnitude and the apparent changes to aerosol size over several orders of magnitude. This directly measured relationship provides a unique opportunity to verify the performance of interactive aerosol models used in climate models.
Lukas O. Muser, Gholam Ali Hoshyaripour, Julia Bruckert, Ákos Horváth, Elizaveta Malinina, Sandra Wallis, Fred J. Prata, Alexei Rozanov, Christian von Savigny, Heike Vogel, and Bernhard Vogel
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 15015–15036, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15015-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15015-2020, 2020
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Volcanic aerosols endanger aircraft and thus disrupt air travel globally. For aviation safety, it is vital to know the location and lifetime of such aerosols in the atmosphere. Here we show that the interaction of volcanic particles with each other eventually reduces their atmospheric lifetime. Moreover, we demonstrate that sunlight heats these particles, which lifts them several kilometers in the atmosphere. These findings support a more reliable forecast of volcanic aerosol dispersion.
Juan-Carlos Antuña-Marrero, Graham W. Mann, Philippe Keckhut, Sergey Avdyushin, Bruno Nardi, and Larry W. Thomason
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 2843–2851, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2843-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2843-2020, 2020
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We report the recovery of lidar measurements of the 1991 Pinatubo eruption. Two Soviet ships crossing the tropical Atlantic in July–September 1991 and January–February 1992 measured the vertical profile of the Pinatubo cloud at different points in its spatio-temporal evolution. The datasets provide valuable new information on the eruption's impacts on climate, with the SAGE-II satellite measurements not able to measure most of the lower half of the Pinatubo cloud in the tropics in this period.
Mahesh Kovilakam, Larry W. Thomason, Nicholas Ernest, Landon Rieger, Adam Bourassa, and Luis Millán
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 2607–2634, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2607-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2607-2020, 2020
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A robust stratospheric aerosol climatology is important as many global climate models (GCMs) make use of observed aerosol properties to prescribe aerosols in the stratosphere. Here, we present version 2.0 of the GloSSAC data set in which a new methodology is used for the post-2005 data that improves the quality of data in the lower stratosphere, which includes an improved 1020 nm extinction. Additionally, size information from multiwavelength measurements of SAGE III/ISS is provided.
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In this paper, we describe a new method for calculating the size of naturally occurring droplets (aerosols) made mostly of sulfuric acid and water that can be found roughly at 20 km altitude in the atmosphere. We use data from the instrument SAGE III/ISS that is mounted on the International Space Station. We show that our method works well, and that the size parameters we calculate are reasonable and can be a valuable addition for a better understanding of aerosols and their effect on climate.
In this paper, we describe a new method for calculating the size of naturally occurring droplets...
