Aircraft measurements of the broadband (0.3--3.0&mgr;m) and near infrared (0.7--3.0&mgr;m) optical depths of stratospheric aerosols over the south Atlantic five months after the eruption of Mount Pinatubo gave values in tropical latitudes up to 0.21 at 6¿S. The measured downward shortwave irradiance was similar to the normal aerosol free case but 20% of the direct solar irradiance was scattered into the diffuse irradiance component. At 0.55&mgr;m wavelength an asymmetry factor of 0.75 decreasing to 0.5 at 2.2&mgr;m was inferred from narrowband radiances scattered by the aerosol. Model calculations using these measurements predict a decrease in tropospheric heating rate of less than 0.2 ¿C day-1 due to these aerosols.