Some Physical Properties of Mount Pinatubo Aerosols as Derived by Lidar

Surface area and mass of stratospheric aerosols generated by the June 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo have been estimated by means of a statistical aerosol model applied to midlatitude lidar observations. Surface area results agree well with equivalent ones obtained by balloon-borne particle counters. These observations indicate that ozone destruction induced by heterogeneous chemical reactions proceeding on Mt. Pinatubo aerosols should persist at least until mid-1993. Lidar-derived aerosol loads for Mt. Pinatubo are presented and compared to the ones recorded after the 1982 eruption of El Chichon. Over a two-year period past the eruption the column mass of the Pinatubo cloud was 2–3 times larger than the El Chichon one.