The total ozone mapping spectrometer (TOMS)instruments have detected every significant volcanic eruption from November 1978 to December 1994 on the Nimbus 7 and Meteor 3 satellites and since July 1996 on the new satellites, TOMS-Earth Probe and ADEOS. We apply a radiative transfer model to simulate the albedos of these fresh eruption clouds to study the limitations of the present algorithm which assumes an absorbing cloud above a scattering atmosphere. The conditions are found to be approximated when the total absorption optical depth is less than 2 (i.e., 100 Dobson units (DU) SO2 at 312 nm or 300 DU SO2 at 317 nm). The spectral dependence of the albedo of a nonabsorbing Rayleigh atmosphere can be specified by only two parameters which are uniquely different when ash or sulfate aerosols are present in the stratosphere. However, the interaction between ash scattering and SO2 absorption within a volcanic cloud produces a nonlinear effect at strongly absorbing wavelengths that accounts for overestimation of sulfur dioxide in ash-laden volcanic clouds by the Krueger et al. <1995> algorithm. Correction of this error requires knowledge of the ash properties. A method for determining two of the ash parameters from the longer TOMS wavelengths is described. Given the altitude of the cloud, surface reflectivity, and an estimate of effective variance of the ash size distribution, the optical thickness and either the effective radius or the index of refraction can be deduced. The ash retrievals are also needed to evaluate the tephra/gas ratio of eruptions and to compare the ash properties of different volcanoes.¿ 1997 American Geophysical Union