Global Stratospheric Aerosol Measurements over the Past Decade
Bourassa, Adam; Degenstein, Doug
University of Saskatchewan, CANADA

The Optical Spectrograph and InfraRed Imager System (OSIRIS), which measures atmospheric limb scattered sunlight radiance spectra at UV, visible and near infrared wavelengths, has been in full operation since launch on the Odin satellite in 2001. OSIRIS measurements are used in a non-linear inversion with a spherical radiative transfer model to retrieve vertical profiles of stratospheric aerosol extinction and particle size. This data set, which now spans over a decade, has relatively high horizontal sampling and nearly global coverage. This work summarizes the retrieval technique and shows validation of the OSIRIS aerosol retrievals with coincident SAGE III occultation measurements. The measurements clearly show the effect of several relatively small volcanic eruptions on the state of the stratospheric aerosol layer.