Spatial variation of stratospheric aerosol acidity and model refractive index: implications of recent results.

Abstract

Recent experimental results indicate that little or no solid ammonium sulfate is present in background stratospheric aerosols. Other results allow straightforward calculation of sulfuric acid/water droplet properties (acidity, specific gravity, refractive index) as functions of stratospheric temperature and humidity. We combine these results with a variety of latitudinal and seasonal temperature and humidity profiles to obtain corresponding profiles of droplet properties. These profiles are used to update a previous model of stratospheric aerosol refractive index.-from Authors