Abstract
Recently, two separately observed enhancements of stratospheric dust concentrations have been detected by Kinsell Coulson and Thomas Defoor with ruby lidar and sun photometers at the NOAA Geophysical Monitoring for Climatic Change (GMCC) Observatory on Mauna Loa, Hawaii. The popular press has referred to the two episodes as the ‘mystery cloud’ (the source of the dust has not been definitively identified but is presumed to be volcanic) and the ‘monster cloud.’ Representative highlights of the observations at Mauna Loa are given here. The figure shows plots of stratospheric dust profiles as the ratio of (Rayleigh + Mie)/Rayleigh scattering observed by lidar. The bottom plot (a) represents data from December 30, 1981, showing a rather clean stratosphere but with some dust above 18 km. The middle plot (b) shows the first lidar observation of the ‘mystery cloud’ on January 28, 1982. The upper plot (c) shows the first lidar observation of the ‘monster cloud’ on April 9, 1982. Note the different ordinate scale on this plot. Other observations at Mauna Loa suggest that both clouds were over Hawaii several days before being positively detected by lidar.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
