Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (Jan 2005)

A 2003 stratospheric aerosol extinction and PSC climatology from GOMOS measurements on Envisat

  • F. Vanhellemont,
  • D. Fussen,
  • C. Bingen,
  • E. Kyrölä,
  • J. Tamminen,
  • V. Sofieva,
  • S. Hassinen,
  • P. Verronen,
  • A. Seppälä,
  • J. L. Bertaux,
  • A. Hauchecorne,
  • F. Dalaudier,
  • O. Fanton d'Andon,
  • G. Barrot,
  • A. Mangin,
  • B. Theodore,
  • M. Guirlet,
  • J. B. Renard,
  • R. Fraisse,
  • P. Snoeij,
  • R. Koopman,
  • L. Saavedra

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 5, no. 9
pp. 2413 – 2417

Abstract

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Stratospheric aerosols play an important role in a number of atmospheric issues such as midlatitude ozone depletion, atmospheric dynamics and the Earth radiative budget. Polar stratospheric clouds on the other hand are a crucial factor in the yearly Arctic and Antarctic ozone depletion. It is therefore important to quantify the stratospheric aerosol/PSC abundance. In orbit since March 2002, the GOMOS instrument onboard the European Envisat satellite has provided a vast aerosol extinction data set. In this paper we present aerosol/PSC zonal median values that were constructed from this data set, together with a discussion of the results.