Insights into Stratospheric Aerosol Processes from In Situ Measurements

Stratospheric aerosols are an important component of Earth’s albedo, and therefore energy balance, and also provide surface area for heterogeneous chemical reactions with the potential to impact stratospheric ozone. Significant progress has been made in understanding the various chemical and physical processes that influence the stratospheric aerosol layer in the six decades since its discovery, but significant gaps remain. Acquiring an extensive database of detailed stratospheric aerosol, trace gas and dynamical observations in order to characterize the baseline state and variability of the stratosphere is critical to constrain and improve modeling of the stratospheric response to natural and anthropogenic perturbations and strengthen the scientific foundation to inform policy decisions related to regulating global emissions that impact the stratosphere. New observations from recent airborne science deployments, the NASA/NSF ACCLIP mission to study Asian summer monsoon outflow and the multi-year, multi-deployment NOAA Stratospheric Aerosol processes, Budget and Radiative Effects (SABRE) project, along with those from an ongoing NOAA balloon sounding project (B2SAP) will be presented