The SAM II instrument, aboard the Earth-orbiting Nimbus 7 spacecraft, was designed to measure solar irradiance attenuated by aerosol particles in the Arctic and Antarctic stratosphere. The scientific objective of the SAM II experiment was to develop a stratospheric aerosol database for the polar regions by measuring and mapping vertical profiles of the atmospheric extinction due to aerosols. This database allows for studies of aerosol changes due to seasonal and short-term meteorological variations, atmospheric chemistry, cloud microphysics, and volcanic activity and other perturbations. The results obtained are useful in a number of applications, particularly the evaluation of any potential climatic effect caused by stratospheric aerosols. This dataset collection contains 14 years of polar Arctic and Antarctic aerosol extinction profiles, atmospheric temperature and pressure data obtained from the Stratospheric Aerosol Instrument II (SAM II) on the NIMBUS 7 satellite.

The SAM II instrument, aboard the Earth-orbiting Nimbus 7 spacecraft, was designed to measure solar irradiance attenuated by aerosol particles in the Arctic and Antarctic stratosphere. This dataset collection contains 14 years of polar Arctic and Antarctic aerosol extinction profiles, atmospheric temperature and pressure data obtained from the Stratospheric Aerosol Instrument II (SAM II) on the NIMBUS 7 satellite.

The Airborne Arctic Stratospheric Expedition (AASE) which was based in Stavanger, Norway during January and February, 1989, was designed to study the production and loss mechanisms of ozone in the north polar stratospheric environment, and the effect on ozone distribution of the Arctic polar vortex and of the cold temperatures associated with the formation of Polar Stratospheric Clouds (PSC). This dataset contains aerosol measurements on board the NIMBUS 7 Satellite