Manifestation of Solar Activity Effects in Lidar Observations of Stratospheric Aerosol

An analysis of lidar observations at wavelengths of 532 and 355 nm conducted in the layer 13–23 km over Obninsk (55° N) from 2014 to 2018 has revealed the effect of solar activity factors on stratospheric aerosol. The time interval from 2016 to 2018 is characterized by a decrease in aerosol backscattering by a few percent 0 to 2 days after the commencement of Forbush decreases in the galactic cosmic ray flux. In 2014–2017, solar proton events with a delay of 3–8 days are followed by an increase of 20% to 70% in aerosol backscattering. This effect has been shown to occur predominantly during the transport of stratospheric air to the observation point from the region of high latitudes.