Volcanic Aerosols from Satellites: Current and Emerging Capabilities

Abstract:

There are 5 instruments currently operating in space with capability to measure stratospheric aerosols. Two of these are lidar backscatter instruments (CALIOP & ISS/CATS) that provide high vertical resolution, day/night coverage, and polarization information to separate ice clouds from sulfate aerosols. Two are limb scattering instruments (OSIRIS & OMPS-LP) with high sensitivity to aerosols and provide extensive spatial coverage of the sunlit globe. And a Canadian solar occultation instrument (ACE-MAESTRO) measures aerosol extinction twice per orbit. Next year we are expecting the launch of the SAGE III instrument on ISS with capability to measure aerosol extinction and Angstrom Exponent (AE) at multiple wavelengths by solar and lunar occultation techniques. It also has limb scattering capability to provide spatial coverage between solar occultations. The 51.6˚ inclination of the ISS orbit will allow SAGE III to measure aerosol scattering across the gobe for a wide range of scattering angles. Therefore, ISS SAGE III has the capability to provide vertically resolved information about a wide variety of aerosol properties, potentially including aerosol extinction, size distribution, refractive index, and particle shape parameters, similar to the one provided by the ground-based almucantar technique. In our talk we will focus primarily on the synergy between the OMPS LP instrument that has been flying on the Suomi NPP satellite since October 2011 and ISS SAGE III. We will show how these measurements can be combined together to capture spatial and temporal evolution of aerosols and ozone in large volcanic plumes to validate models and to support field campaigns.