Mid-infrared extinction by sulfate aerosols from the Mt Pinatubo eruption

Quantitative measurements of the wavelength dependence of aerosol extinction in the 750–3400 cm-1 spectral region have been derived from 0.01 cm-1 resolution stratospheric solar occultation spectra recorded by the ATMOS (Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy) Fourier transform spectrometer about 912 months after the Mt Pinatubo volcanic eruption. Strong, broad aerosol features have been identified near 900, 1060, 1720, and 2900 cm-1 below a tangent height of ~30 km. Aerosol extinction measurements derived from ~0.05 cm-1 wide microwindows nearly free of telluric line absorption in the ATMOS spectra are compared with transmission calculations derived from aerosol size distribution profiles retrieved from correlative SAGE (Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment) II visible and near i.r. extinction measurements, seasonal and zonally averaged H2SO4 aerosol weight percentage profiles, and published sulfuric acid optical constants derived from room temperature laboratory measurements. The calculated shapes and positions of the aerosol features are generally consistent with the observations, thereby confirming that the aerosols are predominantly concentrated H2SO4-H2O droplets, but there are significant differences between the measured and calculated wavelength dependences of the aerosol extinction. We attribute these differences as primarily the result of errors in the calculated low temperature H2SO4-H2O optical constants. Errors in both the published room temperature optical constants and the limitations of the Lorentz-Lorenz relation are likely to be important.