Penetration of Mt. Pinatubo aerosols into the north polar vortex

Observations of the Mount Pinatubo cloud as it moved northward and into the winter polar vortex were made with a balloon borne two‐wavelength backscattersonde. Some volcanic debris had arrived at far northerly latitudes below 20 km by October and was apparently incorporated into the initial vortex. Subsequent measurements did not show a significant increase in the central vortex aerosol until after a mid January disturbance, at which time the backscatter profiles began to increase. Above 20 km and near the center of the vortex there was no significant increase in aerosol through mid March. The column stratospheric aerosol mass loading as calculated from individual soundings at the wall of the vortex during March 1992 ranged from 18 to 24 megatonnes per unit area where the unit of area is that of the earth. This indicates that a significant amount of material was transported northward by the end of the winter.