Raman lidar measurements of Pinatubo aerosols over southeastern Kansas during November-December 1991

Raman lidar measurements over southeastern Kansas of stratospheric aerosols produced by the June 1991 eruptions of Mt. Pinatubo were made on 10 nights during November and December 1991. Both aerosol backscattering and extinction profiles were derived simultaneously from the lidar data since this system detects Raman scattering from nitrogen and oxygen as well as the backscattered light from aerosols and molecules. Aerosols scattering ratios greater than 3(at 351 nm) were measured on several nights. Peak aerosol concentrations were located between 19-22 km and varied significantly from night to night. Aerosol extinction/backscatter ratios computed from the lidar data and averaged over the altitude region of enhanced aerosol scattering between 15-25 km varied between 18-28 sr. Mie computations show these values to be consistent with scattering by aerosol particles with mode radii between 0.3 to 0.5 micron and that the ratios would increase to 40-65 sr at 694 nm. Aerosol optical thicknesses derived from the lidar extinction measurements at 351 nm varied between 0.04 and 0.06.