Balloon data from sampling missions over Laramie, WY showed enhanced aerosols near the tropopause on 24 August, not evident a month earlier, that had a clearly volcanic character (figure 72). By the next measurements from Wyoming on 24 October, the aerosols had apparently gone. High tropopauses (15 km on 24 July, 16 km on 24 August, and 15.5 km on 24 October) suggested that air sampled on those days (and therefore the likely source of the 24 August aerosols) was from low latitudes. The background sulfate aerosol level of about 0.5/cm³ at 20 km did not seem to have been affected.

Figure 72. Concentrations of particles with radii greater than 0.15 µm counted from balloons launched from Laramie, WY on 24 July, 14 August, and 24 October 1989. Courtesy of David Hofmann.

Small aerosol enhancements were detected in the lower stratosphere over Garmisch-Partenkirchen, West Germany in mid-November. Stratospheric aerosols have remained at background levels at Mauna Loa, Hawaii since observations resumed there on 20 October following a period of cloudy weather.

Information Contacts: David Hofmann, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071 USA; Horst Jäger, Fraunhofer-Institut für Atmosphärische Umweltforschung, Kreuzeckbahnstrasse 19, D-8100 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, West Germany; Thomas DeFoor, Mauna Loa Observatory, P.O. Box 275, Hilo, HI 96720 USA.