Aramís Fonte¹, Juan Carlos Antuña¹

¹Camagüey Lidar Station, Camagüey Meteorological Center, INSMET, Cuba

 

Lidar derived stratospheric aerosol extinction profiles from the Mt. Pinatubo eruption are used for simulating the volcanic cloud radiative effects over the surface. Lidar backscattering measurements of the Mt Pinatubo stratospheric aerosols cloud conducted at Mauna Loa, Hawaii, 19.5°N, 155.6°W and Camagüey, Cuba, (21.4°N, 77.9°W) are combined in a unique dataset. Both sets of lidar measurements have been validated with SAGE II (Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment II) stratospheric aerosols extinction measurements, demonstrating its consistency. Original lidar backscattering profiles datasets from both Camagüey and Mauna Loa datasets were converted to extinction profiles at 0.532µm with 500m vertical resolution. Monthly mean aerosol optical depth values calculated for the period July 1991 to November 1993. Using the radiative transfer code of the GCM from the GFDL simulations of the Mt Pinatubo stratospheric aerosols clouds were conducted. The radiative code was adjusted for the vertical profiles of water vapor at Camagüey. Simulations were conducted at noon for the 15th day of each month in the period cited before. Both non-perturbed and perturbed conditions were simulated, in the last case using the lidar derived AOD values. For comparison purposes measurements of direct radiation conducted at Camagüey has been used. Those measurements cover both the perturbed and non-perturbed periods. Comparison results show consistent agreement between theoretical and experimental values