Five Years of Lidar Observations of the Pinatubo Eruption Cloud

Abstract

Five years of lidar measurements at the northern midlatitude site of Garmisch-Partenkirchen show evolution and decay of the stratospheric aerosol cloud which had formed after the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991. These lidar data are the basis for calculations of aerosol extinction, mass, and surface area, which are necessary parameters in considerations of climate response and heterogeneous chemistry effects on the stratospheric ozone.