Volcanic ash particles collected from the stratosphere after the March/April, 1982 explosive eruption of El Chichon volcano, Mexico, were mostly 2-4-&mgr;m vesicular shards of silicic volcanic glass that varied in abundance, at 16.8-19.2 km altidue, from 200 m-3 (30-49¿N lat.) in May to 1.3 m-3 (45-75¿N) in October. At the minimum, the ash cloud covred latitudes 10-60¿N in July and 10¿S-75¿N in October. In May and July, ash particles were mostly free, individual shards (and clusters of shards) but, by October, were ultimately associated with liquid droplets (presumably, sulfuric acid). In May 1982, the total stratospheric burden of ash was at least 240 tons (2.2¿108 g) although the total ash injected into the stratosphere by the eruption was probably 480-8400 tons.