Volcanic aerosol layers observed by lidar at South Pole, September 1991-June 1992

During 1991 the terrestrial stratosphere went through a substantially increased aerosol load, due mainly to the eruptions of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines, and, to a lesser extent, to those of Mt. Hudson in Chile. This paper reports lidar observations of the stratospheric aerosols at South Pole. Two layers were present at different altitudes during the austral summer, but only the higher one persisted in the stratosphere until the onset of the polar stratospheric cloud (PSC) phenomenon. Data have been analyzed in terms of the integrated backscattering coefficient and the aerosol mass content has been estimated.