Stratospheric aerosol acidity, density, and refractive index deduced from SAGE II and NMC temperature data

Abstract

Water vapor concentrations obtained by the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment II (SAGE II) and collocated temperatures provided by the National Meteorological Center from 1986 to 1990 are used to deduce seasonally and zonally averaged acidity, density, and refractive index of stratospheric aerosols. It is found that the weight percentage of sulfuric acid in the aerosols increases from about 60 just above the tropopause to about 86 at 35 km. The density increases from about 1.55 to 1.85 g cm−3 between the same altitude limits. Some seasonal variations of composition and density are evident at high latitudes. The refractive indices at 1.02, 0.694, and 0.532 μm increase, respectively, from about 1.425, 1.430, and 1.435 just above the tropopause to about 1.445, 1.455, and 1.458 at altitudes above 27 km, depending on the season and latitude. The aerosol properties presented can be used in models to study the effectiveness of heterogeneous chemistry, the mass loading of stratospheric aerosols, and the extinction and backscatter of aerosols at different wavelengths. Computed aerosol surface areas, rate coefficients for the heterogeneous reaction ClONO2 + H2O → HOCl + HNO3 and aerosol mass concentrations before and after the Pinatubo eruption in June 1991 are shown as sample applications.