Dustsonde and lidar measurements of stratospheric aerosols: a comparison

On two nights in mid-September 1972, comparative measurements of stratospheric aerosol profiles, utilizing backscattered ruby laser light and direct in situ sampling were conducted over Laramie, Wyoming. The lidar backscattering and the particle number density profiles correlated well when the measured atmospheric molecular density profile was used to calculate the Rayleigh profile used in the lidar data reduction. The backscattered signal at 20 km was approximately 18% above Rayleigh and corresponded to a measured concentration of about one particle per cm(3) with diameters greater than 0.30 microm. Based on these initial comparative experiments, the ground-based lidar coupled with temperature soundings appears to be a possible method for determining the relative aerosol profile under present stratospheric loading conditions.