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Report on Atmospheric Effects (1980-1989) — June 1988


Atmospheric Effects (1980-1989)

Scientific Event Alert Network Bulletin, vol. 13, no. 6 (June 1988)
Managing Editor: Lindsay McClelland.

Atmospheric Effects (1980-1989) Small new layer near tropopause may be from Banda Api

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 1988. Report on Atmospheric Effects (1980-1989) (McClelland, L., ed.). Scientific Event Alert Network Bulletin, 13:6. Smithsonian Institution.



Atmospheric Effects (1980-1989)

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


Apparent small new aerosol layers near the tropopause, perhaps from the May eruption of Banda Api, Indonesia (4.525°S, 129.871°E), were detected by lidar at Mauna Loa, Hawaii and Fukuoka, Japan (figure 57). Very small lower stratospheric layers that looked sharp and fresh were evident on profiles from all three June observations at Mauna Loa (figure 58). The 8 June data showed peaks at 15.9 and 17.7 km altitude; only the peak at 17.7 km was evident on 16 and 21 June. Data from Fukuoka first showed a very thin layer at about 15.4 km altitude (about 1 km below the tropopause) on 5 July, nearly a month after the previous measurement on 10 June. The layer was less than 0.75 km thick, much thinner than the usual cirrus cloud. The next night, a similar layer appeared at the same altitude. Observation with a height resolution of 0.15 km showed it to be thinner than 0.3 km. No cirrus clouds were visible either night. No new layers were detected in late June from Hampton, VA.

Figure with caption Figure 57. Lidar data from various locations, showing altitudes of aerosol layers during March-July 1988. Note that some layers have multiple peaks. Backscattering ratios from Fukouka, Japan, are for the Nd-YAG wavelength of 1.06 µm; all others are for the ruby wavelength of 0.69 µm. Integrated values show total backscatter, expressed in steradians-1, integrated over 300-m intervals from 16-33 km at Mauna Loa and from the tropopause to 30 km at Hampton, Virginia. Altitudes of maximum backscattering ratios and coefficients are shown for each layer at Mauna Loa.
Figure with caption Figure 58. Average monthly lidar profiles from Mauna Loa, Hawaii, December 1987-June 1988. The dotted line superimposed on each profile represents the average 5-22 November 1985 data, before the arrival of Ruiz aerosols.

Figure 59 shows vertically integrated backscattering at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, West Germany, 1982-87. Seasonal variations measured 1983-85 were discussed in Jäger and Carnuth, 1987. The 3 closely spaced higher values in May-June 1987 are from a lower stratospheric layer that may have been caused by strong forest fires in China.

Figure with caption Figure 59. Vertically integrated ruby-wavelength backscattering data from Garmisch-Partenkirchen, West Germany, 1982-1987. Integration was performed from 1 km above the local tropopause to the top of the aerosol layer (at 25-35 km).

Reference. Jäger, H., and Carnuth, W., 1987, The Decay of the El Chichón Stratospheric Perturbation, Observed by Lidar at Northern Midlatitudes; Geophysical Research Letters, v. 14, p. 696-699.

Information Contacts: Motowo Fujiwara, Physics Department, Fukuoka University, Jonan-ku, Fukuoka 814-01, Japan; Thomas DeFoor, Mauna Loa Observatory, P. O. Box 275, Hilo, HI 96720 USA; Horst Jäger, Fraunhofer-Institut für Atmosphärische Umweltforschung, Kreuzeckbahnstrasse 19, D-8100 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, West Germany; William Fuller and Mary Osborn, NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA 23665 USA.