GROUND-BASED REMOTE-SENSING OF THE DECAY OF THE PINATUBO ERUPTION CLOUD AT 3 NORTHERN-HEMISPHERE SITES

Three lidar systems at the northern hemisphere sites of Naha and Tsuku ba, both in Japan, and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, have been obse rving the evolution, spread and decay of the aerosol cloud which had f ormed in the stratosphere after the explosive eruption of the Philippi ne volcano Pinatubo in mid-June 1991. Three years of lidar measurement s show the depletion of the initial equatorial aerosol reservoir and t he subsequent transport to the north. These lidar data are the basis f or the calculation of the climatically relevant parameters aerosol opt ical depth, mass and surface area.