Lidar observations of liquid and solid PSC at Sodankyla

Abstract

Polar stratospheric clouds (PSC) play a major role in the process of Artic and Antartic ozone depletion due to the surface provided for heterogeneus chemical reactions and the removal of NO2 from the gas phase. Therefore the phase, size and composition of PSC's should be known. The microphysical structure of the PSC's depends on the actual temperature and the corresponding; airmass thermal history. At temperatures below the ice frostpoint, PSC's of ice particles (Type II) are observed, while PSC's seen at temperatures above the frostpoint are classified as PSC Type Ia (anisotropic particles) and PSC Ib (spherical particles). PSC I were believed to consist of nitric acid trihydrate (NA'r). NAT should be stable some degrees above the ice frostpoint with a particle shape depending on the cooling rate [Toon et al., 1990]. However, the explanation of PSC based solely on the NAT-hypothesis can not explain a large amount of data [Toon and Tolbert, 1995]. The spherical shape of PSC Ib can be explained with a liquid supercooled ternary solution (STS) consisting of H2O, HNO3 and H2SO4. Scenarios for the formation of frozen background aerosol (sulfuric acid tetrahydrate, SAT) are now investigated. The described variance in shape and size of the PSC can be sensed by multispectral 2-polarization lidar, measuring range resolved scattering properties of atmospheric aerosols. Here the lidar observations of PSC's during the SESAME campaign are compared to the critical formation temperatures of the different PSC types.