Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics www.atmos-chem-phys.net 1680-7316 1680-7324 8 21 2008 10.5194/acp-8-6375-2008 http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/8/6375/2008/ http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/8/6375/2008/acp-8-6375-2008.html http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/8/6375/2008/acp-8-6375-2008.pdf 6375 6380 2008-11-06 Retrieval of stratospheric aerosol size information from OSIRIS limb scattered sunlight spectra A. E. Bourassa adam_bourassa@usask.ca D. A. Degenstein E. J. Llewellyn Science Systems and Applications, Inc., Hampton, VA Institute of Space and Atmospheric Studies, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK Recent work has shown that the retrieval of stratospheric aerosol vertical profiles is possible using limb scattered sunlight measurements at optical wavelengths. The aerosol number density profile is retrieved for an assumed particle size distribution and composition. This result can be used to derive the extinction at the measured wavelength. 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