The Quantitative Assessment of the Mt. Pinatubo Signal in Antarctic Snow

该奖项是为了支持一项研究，该研究在坑中取样地表雪，并在南极附近钻浅层岩心，以寻找1991年6月菲律宾皮纳图博火山喷发的证据。通过卫星、地面和机载大气仪器进行的广泛测量和观测可以了解火山喷发所排放的二氧化硫的数量，以及火山二氧化硫产生的平流层气溶胶的全球分布和衰减情况。在南极洲进行的地面和空中测量清楚地表明，这次喷发产生的平流层硫酸盐气溶胶于1991年后期到达南纬高纬度地区，并在整个1993年在南极大气中持续存在。最近在南极地区采集的雪坑样本的初步结果表明，Pinatubo信号存在，并且可以与1991年8月中旬发生的另一次火山喷发（Cerro Hudson）的信号分开。结合Pinatubo火山已知的硫酸盐气溶胶总量，建议的采样和分析将产生必要的定量信息，以建立低纬度火山喷发的爆炸性与其在南极雪中相应信号的振幅之间的经验关系。

This award is for support for a study to sample surface snow in pits and to drill shallow cores in the vicinity of South Pole to look for evidence of the June, 1991, eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines. Extensive measurements and observations by satellite, ground-based and airborne atmospheric instruments are available regarding the amount of sulfur dioxide emitted from the eruption, as well as the global distribution and decay of the stratospheric aerosols derived from the volcanic sulfur dioxide. Ground-based and airborne measurements in Antarctica clearly indicate that the stratospheric sulfate aerosols from this eruption reached high southern latitudes in late 1991 and persisted in the Antarctic atmosphere through 1993. Preliminary results from snow pit samples recently taken in the South Pole area indicate that the Pinatubo signal exists and can be separated from the signal of another volcanic eruption (Cerro Hudson) which occurred in mid-August, 1991. Combined with the known total sulfate aerosol production from Pinatubo, the proposed sampling and analyses will yield the quantitative information necessary to establish empirical relationships between the explosivity of a low-latitude eruption and the amplitude of its corresponding signals in Antarctic snow.