Speaker
Description
Characterizing the distribution and evolution of aerosol particles in the stratosphere (10-40 km altitude) is important for understanding their potential contribution to long-term climate through heating. Significant heating effects are also observed due to impulsive events such as volcanic eruptions and smoke plumes from large wildfires, which can have considerable economic consequences. These aerosols are currently monitored using limb measurements from instruments such as SAGE III/ISS, OSIRIS, and OMPS LP. We have developed a compact instrument called Aerosol Radiometer for Global Observations of the Stratosphere (ARGOS) in order to improve the sensitivity and spatial coverage of these aerosol data. The instrument optical design has no moving parts to increase reliability, and uses a central prism to make limb viewing measurements of the atmosphere in eight directions simultaneously with a single detector. The combination of forward-viewing and backward-viewing measurements along the orbit track will provide good sensitivity at all latitudes, as well as near-simultaneous samples for specific locations at different scattering angles to help constrain the aerosol phase function. ARGOS uses two wavelengths in the near-IR spectral region (870 nm, 1550 nm) to extend altitude coverage and provide information on the particle size distribution. ARGOS is scheduled for space flight demonstration in Spring 2024 as a hosted payload supported by Loft Orbital. This approach offers significant advantages for small instruments in terms of available size, mass, power, communications, mission operations, and flight opportunities. We will discuss the current status of ARGOS development.
