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The balloonborne SPIRALE (a French acronym for infrared absorption spectroscopy by tunable diode lasers) instrument has been developed for in situ measurements of several tracer and chemically active species in the stratosphere. Laser absorption takes place in an open Herriott multipass cell located under the balloon gondola, with six lead salt diode lasers as light sources. One mirror is located at the extremity of a deployable mast 3.5 m below the gondola, enabling the measurement of very low abundance species throughout a very long absorption path (up to 544 m). Three successful flights have produced concentration measurements of [O.sub.3], CO, [CO.sub.2], [CH.sub.4], [N.sub.2]O, [NO.sub.2], NO, HN[O.sub.3], HC1, HOC1, CO[F.sub.2], and [H.sub.2][O.sub.2]. Fast measurements (every 1.1 s) allow one to obtain a vertical resolution of 5 m for the profiles. A detection limit of a few tens of parts per trillion in volume has been demonstrated. Uncertainties of 3%-5% are estimated for the most abundant species rising to about 30% for the less abundant ones, mainly depending on the laser linewidth and the signal-to-noise ratio.

The aerosol extinction measurements in the ultraviolet and visible wavelengths by the balloonborne spectrometer Spectroscopie d'Absorption Lunaire pour l'Observation des Minoritaires Ozone et [NO.sub.x] (SALOMON) show that aerosols are present in the middle stratosphere, above 25-km altitude. These observations are confirmed by the extinction measurements performed by a solar occultation radiometer. The balloonborne Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique (LMD) counter instrument also confirms the presence of aerosol around 30-km altitude, with an unrealistic excess of micronic particles assuming that only liquid sulfate aerosols are present. An unexpected spectral structure around 640-nm observed by SALOMON is also detectable in extinction measurements by the satellite instrument Stratospheric Aerosols and Gas Experiment III. This set of measurements could indicate that solid aerosols were detected at these altitude ranges. The amount of soot detected up to now in the lower stratosphere is too low to explain these measurements. Thus, the presence of interplanetary dust grains and micrometeorites may need to be invoked. Moreover, it seems that these grains fill the stratosphere in stratified layers. OCIS codes: 010.1110, 280.1100.

Aerosol extinction coefficients have been derived in the 375-700-nm spectral domain from measurements in the stratosphere since 1992, at night, at mid- and high latitudes from 15 to 40 km, by two balloonborne spectrometers, Absorption par les Minoritaires Ozone et N[O.sub.x] (AMON) and Spectroscopie d'Absorption Lunaire pour l'Observation des Minoritaires Ozone et N[O.sub.x] (SALOMON). Log-normal size distributions associated with the Mie-computed extinction spectra that best fit the measurements permit calculation of integrated properties of the distributions. Although measured extinction spectra that correspond to background aerosols can be reproduced by the Mie scattering model by use of monomodal log-normal size distributions, each flight reveals some large discrepancies between measurement and theory at several altitudes. The agreement between measured and Mie-calculated extinction spectra is significantly improved by use of bimodal log-normal distributions. Nevertheless, neither monomodal nor bimodal distributions permit correct reproduction of some of the measured extinction shapes, especially for the 26 February 1997 AMON flight, which exhibited spectral behavior attributed to particles from a polar stratospheric cloud event. OCIS codes: 010.1100, 120.0280, 120.5820.

The physical properties of stratospheric aerosols can be retrieved from optical measurements involving extinction, radiance, polarization, and counting. We present here the results of measurements from the balloonborne instruments AMON, SALOMON, and RADIBAL, and from the French Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique and the University of Wyoming balloonborne particle counters. A cross comparison of the measurements was made for observations of background aerosols conducted during the polar winters of February 1997 and January--February 2000 for various altitudes from 13 to 19 kin. On the one hand, the effective radius and the total amount of background aerosols derived from the various sets of data are similar and are in agreement with pre-Pinatubo values. On the other hand, strong discrepancies occur in the shapes of the bimodal size distributions obtained from analysis of the raw measurements of the various instruments. It seems then that the log-normal assumption cannot fully reproduce the size distribution of background aerosols. The effect of the presence of particular aerosols on the measurements is discussed, and a new strategy for observations is proposed. Society of America OCIS codes: 010.1100, 120.0280, 120.5820, 120.5410.

The presence of soot in the lower stratosphere was recently established by in situ measurements. To isolate their contribution to optical measurements from that of background aerosol, the soot's bulk optical properties must be determined. Laboratory measurements of extinction and polarization of randomly distributed soot were conducted. For all soot, measurements show a slight reddening extinction between 400 and 700 nm and exhibit a maximum of 100% polarization at a scattering angle of 75 [+ or -] 5 [degrees]. Such results cannot be reproduced by use of Mie theory assumptions. The different optical properties of soot and background stratospheric aerosol could allow isolation of soot in future analyses of stratospheric measurements. OCIS codes: 010.1100, 120.5410, 290.2200, 290.4020.

A new, light balloonborne UV--visible spectrometer, called SALOMON, is designed to perform nighttime measurements of stratospheric trace-gas species by using the Moon as a light source. The first flight, performed on 31 October 1998 at mid-latitude with a float altitude of 26.7 km, allowed the performance of the pointing system to be checked and vertical profiles of ozone, [NO.sub.2], [NO.sub.3], and possibly OBrO to be obtained. First the instrument and then the performance of the pointing system and the detector are described. Finally the vertical profiles are compared with other profiles obtained at the same location five years before with the heavier balloonborne spectrometer AMON, which uses a star as the light source. [C] 2000 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 010.1280, 010.4950, 010.1110, 120.6200.