ATLANTIC ATMOSPHERIC AEROSOL STUDIES .2. COMPENDIUM OF AIRBORNE BACKSCATTER MEASUREMENTS AT 10.6-MU-M

The airborne backscatter measurements at 10.6 mu m, from the South Atl antic Backscatter Lidar Experiment (SABLE) and the Global Atmospheric Backscatter Lidar Experiment (GABLE) programs over the Atlantic, are g athered together and presented. Plots of backscatter versus altitude a re shown for 80 flight sequences. These data comprising about 4 x 10(5 ) measurements from over 180 flight hours is statistically analyzed. T he material is distributed in altitude (1 km) and backscatter (half de cade) intervals and presented in tabular and histogram form for six pr incipal regions and seasons: South Atlantic summer, South Atlantic win ter, far-North Atlantic spring, mid-Atlantic spring/summer, and Northe ast Atlantic winter and summer. Several features of the results are di scussed, including the incidence of low backscatter and drop-outs and the remarkably high incidence of thin cirrus in the southern tropical winter season. The compendium should provide a climatology of atmosphe ric backscatter at 10.6 mu m for regions of the Atlantic during the re latively clean atmospheric period 1988-1990.