Polar Stratospheric Cloud Measurements by Multispectral Lidar at Sodankyla in Winter 1994/95

Abstract

Polar stratospheric clouds (PSC) play a major role in the process of Arctic and Antarctic ozone depletion due to heterogeneous chemical reactions responsible for chlorine acti-vation, and particle sedimentation redistributing nitrogen species in the stratosphere. Therefore the phase, size and the composition of PSCs should be known. PSC can be divided into PSC type I, observed at temperatures some degrees above the ice frostpoint, and PSC type II consisting of water ice particles occurring at temperatures below the frostpoint. PSC type I can be subdivided into aspherical (type Ia) and spherical (type Ib) particles. Measurements of gas phase HNO3 removal in presence of PSCs and labora¬tory studies led to the assumption that PSC type I consist of nitric acid trihydrate and theparticle shape depends on the cooling rate [1]. However the explanation ofPSC I based solely on the NAT-hypothesis can not explain a large amount of data [2], and other compositions like liquid supercooled ternary solu¬tions (STS) of H2O, HNO3 and H2SO 4 are discussed now [3]. Multiwavelength, 2-polarization lidar measurements give information about the size distribution, refractive index and physical state of the cloud particles.