Global Satellite-based Stratospheric Aerosol Climatology

The Global Space-based Stratospheric Aerosol Climatology, or GloSSAC, is a 38-year climatology of stratospheric aerosol properties focused on extinction coefficient measurements by the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) series of instruments through mid-2005 and on the Optical Spectrograph and InfraRed Imager System (OSIRIS) and the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) data thereafter. Data from other space instruments and from ground-based, air and balloon borne instruments to fill in key gaps in the data set. The end result is a global and gap-free data set focused on aerosol extinction coefficient at 525 and 1020 nm and other parameters on an ‘as available’ basis.

Disciplines:   Aerosols
Collection Disciplines Spatial Temporal
GloSSAC_1.1
Global Space-based Stratospheric Aerosol Climatology Version 1.1
Aerosols Spatial Coverage:
(S: -80, N: 80), (W: -180, E: 180)
Horizontal Resolution Range:
500 km - < 1000 km or approximately 5 degrees - < 10 degrees
Vertical Resolution Range:
100 meters - < 1 km
Temporal Coverage:
1979-01-01 - 2016-12-31
Temporal Resolution Range:
Monthly Climatology
GloSSAC_2.0
Global Space-based Stratospheric Aerosol Climatology Version 2.0
Aerosols Spatial Coverage:
(S: -80, N: 80), (W: -180, E: 180)
Horizontal Resolution Range:
500 km - < 1000 km or approximately 5 degrees - < 10 degrees
Vertical Resolution Range:
100 meters - < 1 km
Temporal Coverage:
1979-01-01 - 2018-12-31
Temporal Resolution Range:
Monthly Climatology
GloSSAC_2.1
Global Space-based Stratospheric Aerosol Climatology Version 2.1
Aerosols Spatial Coverage:
(S: -80, N: 80), (W: -180, E: 180)
Temporal Coverage:
1979-01-01 - 2020-12-31
GloSSAC_2.2
Global Space-based Stratospheric Aerosol Climatology Version 2.2
Aerosols Spatial Coverage:
(S: -80, N: 80), (W: -180, E: 180)
Horizontal Resolution Range:
500 km - < 1000 km or approximately 5 degrees - < 10 degrees
Vertical Resolution Range:
100 meters - < 1 km
Temporal Coverage:
1979-01-01 - 2021-12-31
Temporal Resolution Range:
Monthly Climatology
GloSSAC_2.21
Global Space-based Stratospheric Aerosol Climatology Version 2.21
Aerosols Spatial Coverage:
(S: -80, N: 80), (W: -180, E: 180)
Temporal Coverage:
1979-01-01 - 2022-12-31

GloSSAC Mission Publications

Thomason, Larry W.; Knepp, Travis (2023). Quantifying SAGE II (1984–2005) and SAGE III/ISS (2017–2022) observations of smoke in the stratosphere.


Case, Parker; Colarco, Peter R.; Toon, Brian; Aquila, Valentina; Keller, Christoph A. (2023). Interactive Stratospheric Aerosol Microphysics‐Chemistry Simulations of the 1991 Pinatubo Volcanic Aerosols With Newly Coupled Sectional Aerosol and Stratosphere‐Troposphere Chemistry Modules in the NASA GEOS Chemistry‐Climate Model (CCM).


Kovilakam, Mahesh; Thomason, Larry; Knepp, Travis (2023). SAGE III/ISS aerosol/cloud categorization and its impact on GloSSAC.


Konopka, Paul; Tao, Mengchu; Ploeger, Felix; Hurst, Dale F.; Santee, Michelle L.; Wright, Jonathon S.; Riese, Martin (2022). Stratospheric Moistening After 2000.


Ball, William T.; Chiodo, Gabriel; Abalos, Marta; Alsing, Justin; Stenke, Andrea (2022). Inconsistencies between chemistry–climate models and observed lower stratospheric ozone trends since 1998.


Brock, Charles A.; Froyd, Karl D.; Dollner, Maximilian; Williamson, Christina J.; Schill, Gregory; Murphy, Daniel M.; Wagner, Nicholas J.; Kupc, Agnieszka; Jimenez, Jose L.; Campuzano-Jost, Pedro; Nault, Benjamin A.; Schroder, Jason C.; Day, Douglas A.; Price, Derek J.; Weinzierl, Bernadett; Schwarz, Joshua P.; Katich, Joseph M.; Wang, Siyuan; Zeng, Linghan; Weber, Rodney; Dibb, Jack; Scheuer, Eric; Diskin, Glenn S.; DiGangi, Joshua P.; Bui, ThaoPaul; Dean-Day, Jonathan M.; Thompson, Chelsea R.; Peischl, Jeff; Ryerson, Thomas B.; Bourgeois, Ilann; Daube, Bruce C.; Commane, Róisín; Wofsy, Steven C. (2021). Ambient aerosol properties in the remote atmosphere from global-scale in situ measurements.


Kovilakam, Mahesh; Thomason, Larry W.; Ernest, Nicholas; Rieger, Landon; Bourassa, Adam; Millán, Luis (2021). The Global Space-based Stratospheric Aerosol Climatology (version 2.0): 1979–2018.


Ming, Alison; Hitchcock, Peter (2021). What Contributes to the Inter‐Annual Variability in Tropical Lower Stratospheric Temperatures?.


Steiner, A. K.; Ladstädter, F.; Randel, W. J.; Maycock, A. C.; Fu, Q.; Claud, C.; Gleisner, H.; Haimberger, L.; Ho, S.-P.; Keckhut, P.; Leblanc, T.; Mears, C.; Polvani, L. M.; Santer, B. D.; Schmidt, T.; Sofieva, V.; Wing, R.; Zou, C.-Z. (2018). Observed Temperature Changes in the Troposphere and Stratosphere from 1979 to 2018.


Thomason, Larry W.; Ernest, Nicholas; Millán, Luis; Rieger, Landon; Bourassa, Adam; Vernier, Jean-Paul; Manney, Gloria; Luo, Beiping; Arfeuille, Florian; Peter, Thomas (2018). A global space-based stratospheric aerosol climatology: 1979–2016.


Feinberg, Aryeh; Sukhodolov, Timofei; Luo, Bei-Ping; Rozanov, Eugene; Winkel, Lenny H. E.; Peter, Thomas; Stenke, Andrea (2017). Improved tropospheric and stratospheric sulfur cycle in the aerosol–chemistry–climate model SOCOL-AERv2.


Stocker, Matthias; Ladstädter, Florian; Wilhelmsen, Hallgeir; Steiner, Andrea K. (2017). Quantifying Stratospheric Temperature Signals and Climate Imprints From Post‐2000 Volcanic Eruptions.


Rousseau-Rizzi, Raphaël; Emanuel, Kerry (2016). Natural and anthropogenic contributions to the hurricane drought of the 1970s–1980s.


Zerefos, Christos; Kapsomenakis, John; Eleftheratos, Kostas; Tourpali, Kleareti; Petropavlovskikh, Irina; Hubert, Daan; Godin-Beekmann, Sophie; Steinbrecht, Wolfgang; Frith, Stacey; Sofieva, Viktoria; Hassler, Birgit (2015). Representativeness of single lidar stations for zonally averaged ozone profiles, their trends and attribution to proxies.