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


Atmospheric Effects (1980-1989)

Scientific Event Alert Network Bulletin, vol. 13, no. 9 (September 1988)
Managing Editor: Lindsay McClelland.

Atmospheric Effects (1980-1989) Aerosols continue to decline toward background levels

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 1988. Report on Atmospheric Effects (1980-1989) (McClelland, L., ed.). Scientific Event Alert Network Bulletin, 13:9. Smithsonian Institution.



Atmospheric Effects (1980-1989)

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


Lidar data from Virginia, Japan, and Hawaii indicated that stratospheric aerosol concentrations continued to decline toward background levels through September (figure 62). Small lower stratospheric layers measured in June at Mauna Loa, Hawaii and in early July at Fukuoka, Japan, perhaps from the May eruption of Banda Api, have not been evident since then. No large injections of volcanic material into the stratosphere have been detected since the November 1985 eruption of Ruiz.

Figure with caption Figure 62. Lidar data from various locations, showing altitudes of aerosol layers during August-September 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. Upper and lower limits of layers at Mauna Loa were not clearly evident and are therefore not reported.

Information Contacts: William Fuller, NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA 23665 USA; Thomas DeFoor, Mauna Loa Observatory, P.O. Box 275, Hilo, HI 96720 USA; Motowo Fujiwara, Physics Department, Fukuoka University, Jonanku, Fukuoka 814-01, Japan.