Evaluation of a method for converting Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) extinction coefficients to backscatter coefficients for intercomparison with lidar observations

Travis N. Knepp (1) , Larry Thomason (1) , Marilee Roell (1) , Robert Damadeo (1) , Kevin Leavor (2) , Thierry Leblanc (3) , Fernando Chouza (3) , Sergey Khaykin (4) , Sophie Godin-Beekmann (4) , David Flittner (1)

1 LaRC - NASA Langley Research Center [Hampton]
2 SSAI - Science Systems and Applications, Inc. [Hampton]
3 JPL - Jet Propulsion Laboratory
4 STRATO - LATMOS

Aerosol backscatter coefficients were calculated using multi-wavelength aerosol extinction products from the SAGE II and SAGE III/ISS instruments. The conversion methodology is presented followed by an evaluation of the conversion algorithm's robustness. The SAGE-based backscatter products were compared to backscatter coefficients derived from ground-based lidar at three sites (Table Mountain Facility, Mauna Loa, and Observatoire de Haute-Provence). This evaluation includes the major eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991 followed by the atmospherically quiescent period beginning in the late nineties. Recommendations are made regarding the use of this method for evaluation of aerosol extinction profiles collected using the occultation method.

Domains: Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics [physics.ao-ph]

Travis N. Knepp, Larry Thomason, Marilee Roell, Robert Damadeo, Kevin Leavor, et al.. Evaluation of a method for converting Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) extinction coefficients to backscatter coefficients for intercomparison with lidar observations. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 2020, 13 (8), pp.4261-4276. ⟨10.5194/amt-13-4261-2020⟩. ⟨insu-02498991⟩