SULFUR DIOXIDE FROM THE ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY EXPERIMENT (ACE) SATELLITE

Abstract

The version 4.0 dataset from the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment – Fourier Transform Spectrometer (ACE-FTS) on SCISAT, released in March of 2019, has sulfur dioxide (SO$_{2}$) volume mixing ratio (VMR) profiles as a routine data product. From this dataset, global SO$_{2}$ distributions between the altitudes of 10.5 km and 23.5 km are analyzed. The global distribution of all SO$_{2}$ VMR data by altitude is divided into $30^{\circ}$ and $5^{\circ}$ latitude zones. Seasonality of global SO$_{2}$ distribution is explored. Volcanic SO$_{2}$ plumes are isolated in the dataset and compared with aerosol extinction data from the ACE-FTS Imager. SO$_{2}$ is converted to sulfate aerosols on timescale of about one month. Sulfate aerosols increase the Earth's albedo and cool the surface.