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Weighting function can affect the retrieval of the column gas mixing ratio of integrated path differential absorption (IPDA) lidar because it contains the vertical distribution information of the target gas. In order to optimize the wavelengths within the 1.57 um spectral band for IPDA lidar for CO2 measurement. The temperature, pressure and water vapor (TPH) sensitivity and the proportion of the weight function integration in the lower layer part to the total atmosphere layer (R) of each wavelength are calculated. The measurement errors of each wavelength are simulated with CO2 fluctuation in the lower layer. The specific wavelength with the R value of 0.6 has been found to be a stable measurement bias which does not change with fluctuations, so the R value of 0.6 is used to optimize the wavelength for measurement CO2. The simulation results show that the measurement error via wavelength is smaller than 0.05 ppm, when the TPH sensitivity is smaller than 0.95 and when R is about 0.6. This proposed method can be applicable for the further airborne or space-borne lidar development.

Atmospheric detection is the basis of air pollution control, lidar is a powerful tool for atmospheric detection. Because of blind area and transition area, lidar cannot get complete echo signals in the near range. Laser beam imaging technique based on charge coupled device (CCD) can solve the above difficulties caused by lidar effectively. Laser beam imaging technique is studied from theoretical analysis and simulation experiment, including imaging characteristics, the angle relationship between CCD image plane and lens plane, the influence of laser beam divergence angle on detecting spatial resolution. The comparison experiments show that laser beam imaging technique in detecting atmospherics is reliable and feasible. Furthermore, the application cases are given in detecting aerosol backscattering coefficient, aerosol extinction coefficient, aerosol phase function and PM2.5 mass concentration

Lidar and radar are two useful tools for cirus clouds, which can provide the possibility to retrieve the vertical profiles of both the number density of particles and their microphysical characteristics, especially, when they operate together simultaneously. In this study, a multi-wavelength Lidar and a 35 Ghz Radar with polarization channels are employed to measure the properties of cirrus clouds in Hefei. The backscattering coefficient at 0.532 μm from lidar, and the effective reflectivity factor from radar are inversed for use. Furthermore, the quantities responsible for microphysics can be extracted and explained as the dimensionless values, such as the depolarization ratio and color ratio. Then these optical properties for cirrus cloud during campaigns are analyzed and compared with calculating results.

The new side‐scattering lidar using two charge‐coupled device cameras and one CW laser is developed to measure the near‐ground aerosol profiles in haze day, which is a powerful tool and is most interested for the environmental and meteorological agencies. A new inversion method for the side‐scattering lidar to retrieve the aerosol backscattering coefficient is proposed for the first time, which is based on the aerosol backscattering coefficient measured by itself at the ground as a constrained condition. Numerical simulation is carried out to analyze the convergence of this new method. Case studies indicate that this method is reasonable and feasible. The method is especially suitable for the measurement in the foggy and hazy weathers even during the daytime, and it does not need a simultaneous backscattering lidar as the reference any more.

To explore the vertical distribution of the aerosol optical parameters over Jinhua City, southeast China, a Dual-wavelength Mie Polarization Raman Lidar (DMPRL) system was operated to obtain the atmospheric backscattering signals from June 2013 to May 2014. Profiles of aerosol occurrence frequency and aerosol optical parameters, including backscattering ratio, particle depolarization ratio, and color ratio, were retrieved from the lidar signals. The cases with a cloud base below 6 km and profiles on rainy days were eliminated. The multi-layer vertical aerosol structure was found in Jinhua area and the altitude-resolved optical properties varies with seasons. In autumn, winter and spring, the aerosol layer occurrence frequencies were higher than summer at 3–6 km, especially in spring. The mean particle depolarization ratio at 4–6 km exceeded 0.1 in autumn, winter, and spring, whereas it was

Lidar, radiosonde, and ground-based in situ nephelometer measurements made during an intensive field campaign carried out from July to September 2014 at the Xinzhou meteorological station were used to determine the aerosol hygroscopic growth effect in a cloud-capped, well-mixed boundary layer. Aerosol hygroscopic properties at 355 and 532 nm were examined for two cases with distinct aerosol layers. Lidar-derived maximum enhancement factors in terms of aerosol backscatter coefficient derived using a relative humidity ( RH ) reference value of 85% were 1.19 at 532 nm and 1.10 at 355 nm for Case I and 2.32 at 532 nm and 1.94 at 355 nm for Case II. To derive the aerosol particle hygroscopic growth factor at specific RH values, the Kasten and Hanel models were used. A comparison of the goodness of fit for the two models showed that the Kasten model performed better. The hygroscopic growth curve for RH >90% was much steeper than that for RH in the range of 85–90%. The slopes of the lidar-derived enhancement factor curve (measured from 85% to 95% RH ) and the nephelometer-derived enhancement factor curve (measured from 40% to 62% RH ) in Case I show similar trends, which lends confidence to using lidar measurements for studying aerosol particle hygroscopic growth. Data from a ground aerosol chemical speciation monitor showed that the larger values of aerosol hygroscopic enhancement factor in Case II corresponded to greater mass concentrations of sulfate and nitrate in the atmosphere.

Aerosol extinction coefficient profile is an essential parameter for atmospheric radiation model. It is difficult to get higher signal to noise ratio (SNR) of backscattering lidar from the ground to the tropopause especially in near range. Higher SNR problem can be solved by combining side-scattering and backscattering lidar. Using Raman-scattering lidar, aerosol extinction to backscatter ratio (lidar ratio) can be got. Based on side-scattering, backscattering and Raman-scattering lidar system, aerosol extinction coefficient is retrieved precisely from the earth’s surface to the tropopause. Case studies show this method is reasonable and feasible.

In this study, a multi-wavelength Raman-mie Lidar, and a 35 Ghz Radar are employed to measure the properties of aerosol and cloud. The extinction at 0.355μm and 0.532μm and backscattering at 0.355μm, 0.532μm and 1.064μm coefficients from lidar, and the effective reflectivity factor from radar are inversed for use. Furthermore, the quantities responsible for microphysics can be extracted and explained as the dimensionless values, such as the linear depolarization ratio, the color ratio, and the other ratios. Then these microphysical properties for aerosol and cloud during campaigns are analyzed for further use.

Fine particles (PM2.5) affect human life and activities directly; the detection of PM2.5 mass concentration profile is very essential due to its practical and scientific significance (such as the quantification of air quality and its variability as well as the assessment of improving air quality forecast). But so far, it has been difficult to detect PM2.5 mass concentration profile. The proposed methodology to study the relationship between aerosol extinction coefficient and PM2.5 mass concentration is described, which indicates that the PM2.5 mass concentration profile could be retrieved by combining a charge-coupled device (CCD) side-scatter lidar with a PM2.5 sampling detector. When the relative humidity is less than 70 %, PM2.5, mass concentration is proportional to the aerosol extinction coefficient, and then the specific coefficient can be calculated. Through this specific coefficient, aerosol extinction profile is converted to PM2.5 mass concentration profile. Three cases of clean night (on 21 September 2014), pollutant night (on 17 March 2014), and heavy pollutant night (on 13 February 2015) are studied. The characteristics of PM2.5 mass concentration profile at the near-ground level during the cases of these 3 nights in the western suburb of Hefei city were discussed. The PM2.5 air pollutant concentration is comparatively large close to the surface and varies with time and altitude. The experiment results show that the CCD side-scatter lidar combined with a PM2.5 detector is an effective and new method to explore pollutant mass concentration profile at the near-ground level.

A high spectral resolution lidar (HSRL) system based on injection-seeded Nd:YAG laser and iodine absorption filter has been developed for the quantitative measurement of aerosol and cloud. The laser frequency is stabilized at 80 MHz by a frequency locking system and the absorption line of iodine cell is selected at the 1111 line with 2 GHz width. The observations show that the HSRL can provide vertical profiles of particle extinction coefficient, backscattering coefficient and lidar ratio for cloud and aerosol up to 12 km altitude, simultaneously. For the measured cases, the lidar ratios are 10~20 sr for cloud, 28~37 sr for dust, and 58~70 sr for urban pollution aerosol. It reveals the potential of HSRL to distinguish the type of aerosol and cloud. Time series measurements are given and demonstrate that the HSRL has ability to continuously observe the aerosol and cloud for day and night.

The side-scattering lidar based on the CCD camera is a powerful tool to measure the near- ground aerosol, which is most interesting for the environmental and meteorological departments. The inversion method for the side-scattering lidar is different from the conventional Fernald method due to the differences in two lidar equations. A new inversion method for the side-scattering lidar to retrieve the aerosol backscattering coefficient is proposed for the first time, which is based on the aerosol backscattering coefficient at the ground as a restriction condition. Numerical simulation is used to analyze the convergence of this new method. Case studies indicate that this new method is reasonable and feasible.REFERENCES

The Polarization Lidar has been developed for cirrus cloud optical properties measurement. The Nd-YAG laser is employed as emitting linear source and two channels are used for detecting back-scattering signals from cirrus cloud including two 532 nm Orthogonal Polarization channels. Measurements were carried out from December 2010, to February 2013. In this work, we consider the only linear depolarization ratio measured at a wavelength of 532 nm. The dependences of depolarization ratios on both the size of ice crystals and the distribution of their distortion angles were also calculated. These results were compared with each other and used for retrieving the microphysical parameters of cirrus clouds observed in Hefei.

The vertical distribution of the aerosol layers is depicted by using the lidar data in Jinhua city from 2013 to 2014. The lidar installed in Jinhua is a dual-wavelength Mie polarization Raman lidar. Aerosol layers are searched through gradient method. At the same time, HYSPLIT model is used to tracing the aerosol trajectories. The results show that different heights of aerosol layers have different transportation route. By a case study, the lidar data on December 30, 2013 and May 1, 2014 reveal several vertical aerosol layers. According to the 24-hour backward trajectory of HYSPLIT model, different aerosol layers comes from different places, and this may relate to the winter monsoon in China.

Temperature Water Vapor and Aerosols Raman Lidar has been designed for the measurement of atmospheric composition. In order to investigate characteristics of aerosol boundary layer (ABL) height in Beijing, the lidar system had been installed in the University of Chinese academy of sciences from November 2014 to January 2015 (40.41°N, 116.68°E). The data obtained by Raman lidar have been used to derive the ABL height (ABLH) based on the gradient method. A total of 15 days of haze, 27 days of pollution and 24 days of clean occurred through the entire period of observation. On haze, pollution and clean days, the average ABLH were 0.6~0.9 km, 0.9~1.3 km and 1~1.9 km, respectively. In contrast to clean days, haze days have lower ABLH, and gradient changes are faster. The measurement results show the height of ABL has a negative correlation with the concentration of surface PM. The rate of PM concentration variations increase gradually with the height of ABL in clean, pollution and haze days. the atmospheric temperature distribution is relatively stable in two hours. Temperature from 2 to 3 km altitude tends to increase gradually for the observation period.

Lidar is a kind of active optical remote sensing instruments , can be applied to sound atmosphere with a high spatial and temporal resolution. Many parameter of atmosphere can be get by using different inverse algorithm with lidar backscatter signal. The basic setup of a lidar consist of a transmitter and a receiver. To make sure the quality of lidar signal data, the lidar must be calibrated before being used to measure the atmospheric variables. It is really significant to character and analyze lidar optical subsystem because a well equiped lidar optical subsystem contributes to high quality lidar signal data. we pay close attention to telecover test to character and analyze lidar optical subsystem.The telecover test is called four quadrants method consisting in dividing the telescope aperture in four quarants. when a lidar is well configured with lidar optical subsystem, the normalized signal from four qudrants will agree with each other on some level. Testing our WARL-II lidar by four quadrants method ,we find the signals of the four basically consistent with each other both in near range and in far range. But in detail, the signals in near range have some slight distinctions resulting from overlap function, some signals distinctions are induced by atmospheric instability.

The near-ground aerosols have the most impact on the human beings. Its fine spatial and temporal distribution, with which the environmental and meteorological departments concern themselves most, has not been elaborated very well due to the unavailable measurement tools. We present the continuous observations of the vertical profile of near-ground aerosol backscattering coefficients by employing our self-developed side-scattering lidar system based on charge-coupled device camera. During the experimental period from April 2013 to August 2014, four catalogs of aerosol backscattering coefficient profiles are found in the near ground. The continuous measurement is revealed by the contour plots measured during the whole night. These experimental results indicate that the aerosol backscattering coefficients in near ground are inhomogeneous and vary with altitude and time, which are very useful for the model researchers to study the regional air pollution and its climate impact.

The scanning polarization Mie lidar (SPML) system has been developed and is described. The lidar system has two detection channels to receive the parallel and perpendicular polarization components at the laser wavelength of 532 nm, which indicates the nonsphericity of aerosol and cloud particles. It can take the horizontal, vertical and conical scans of the atmosphere with the elevation and azimuth motors. This paper discusses the current capability of the SPML lidar and its results. The observation shows that the SPML lidar can provide the multi-dimensional views of the atmosphere which is impossible to achieve with other ground-based vertically pointing lidars. It is helpful to track and monitor aerosol plumes in urban area, to determinate the planetary boundary layer height and to enhance the measurement of atmosphere in the lower height where the geometrical form factor of lidar system affects.

A three-wavelength Raman Mie Polarization Lidar has been developed for cloud and aerosol optical properties measurement. The Nd-YAG laser is employed as emitting source and six channels are used for detecting back-scattering signals from atmosphere aerosol and cloud including 1064 and 355 nm Mie, 607 and 386 nm N2 Raman, two 532 nm Orthogonal Polarization channels. The measured data are used for investigating the cirrus properties including cloud optical depth, polarization ratio, color ratio and lidar ratio. And these results are matched with the microphysical model suggested.

The Raman lidar has been developed and installed in the Beijing from November to December in 2014 for the observation of the spatial and vertical characteristics of aerosol and water vapor in the planetary boundary layer. During the experiments, the Raman lidar operates in the automatic and continuous mode with the spatial resolution of 7.5 m and the temporal resolution of 15 min. The observation results show that the aerosol extinction always increases along with the greater content of water vapor and the lower height of planetary boundary layer. It implies that the decrease of air quality in Beijing is associated with the water vapor in the air and the height of planetary boundary layer beside the enrichment of local and transported aerosols.

Cirrus cloud has an important effect on the radiation balance between the earth’s surface and the atmosphere. The vertical structures, optical depth and effective lidar ratio of cirrus cloud detected by Mie scattering-polarization-Raman lidar system in Beijing from April 11 to December 31, 2012 are analyzed. The results show that the cloud height in Beijing is lower in spring and higher in autumn, with a mean value of about 8km. The mean of cloud thickness is 0.74km. The mean of optical depth is 0.092, and most observed cirrus cloud is thin while optical depth is less than 0.3. The effective lidar ratio of cirrus is lower in summer and higher in winter, inversely related to local temperature, with a mean value of 32.29Sr.

Results of the study of microphysical characteristics of cirrus clouds in Hefei, China, with a multiwavelength polarization lidar are presented. Measurements were carried out from December 2010, to February 2013. In this work, we consider the only dependable parameter of lidar signals, i.e., the linear depolarization ratio measured at a wavelength of 532 μm. The dependences of depolarization ratios on both the size of ice crystals and the distribution of their distortion angles were calculated in this work for the first time. These results were used for retrieving, with some uncertainty, the microphysical parameters of cirrus clouds observed in Hefei during that period.

12-year LIDAR observations of tropospheric aerosol vertical distribution using a Mie scattering LIDAR in Hefei (31.9°N, 117.2°E) from 1998 to 2009 are presented and analyzed in this paper. Characters of temporal variation and vertical distribution of tropospheric aerosol over Hefei are summarized from the LIDAR measurements. The impacts of natural source and human activities on the aerosol vertical distribution over Hefei could be seen clearly. Dust particles from the north in spring could affect the aerosol distributions below about 12 km over Hefei, and aerosol scale height in April reaches 2.29±0.68 km. Both LIDAR measurements and surface visibility imply that aerosols in the lower troposphere have been increasing since about 2005.

A ground-based polarization-Mie lidar has been developed to measure backscattering signals from the atmosphere and linear depolarization ratios at 532 nm. To retrieve depolarization properties of clouds and aerosols, the calibration factor (k) of two polarization channels at 532 nm must be calculated. In this paper three different experimental methods are presented to determine the calibration factor (k) in this polarization-Mie lidar. Some measured examples are presented and discussed. Experimental and validated results indicate these methods are feasible.

To monitor the temporal and spatial characteristics of particulate matter and water vapor in the aerosol pollution and haze episodes, the polarization Raman Mie lidar system has been developed. The lidar system includes four detection channels and it can measure the extinction coefficient and depolarization ratio of particulate matter as well as water vapor mixing ratio. The extinction coefficient indicates the visibility of atmosphere and it associates with the concentration of particulate matter. The depolarization ratio demonstrates the nonsphericity of particulate matter and is useful to distinguish the dust and pollution aerosol. The water vapor mixing ratio denotes the content of water vapor in the air and it is an important factor to influence of the hygroscopic growth on the pollution aerosol. The lidar system can operate in the automatic and continuous modes through a window on the roof of the observation room regards of the weather, and it takes continuous measurement from 20 November 2013 to 6 February 2014 over Hefei, China. During the experiment, the typical results of particulate matter measured with lidar in clear air, aerosol pollution and haze, and dust episodes are analyzed and given. The lidar observations are also compared with the air quality data and the meteorological data on the ground.

A Dual-wavelength Mie Polarization Raman Lidar has been developed for cloud and aerosol optical properties measurement. This idar system has built in Hefei and passed the performance assessment in 2012, and then moved to Jinhua city to carry out the long-term continuous measurements of vertical distribution of regional cloud and aerosol. A double wavelengths (532 and 1064 nm) Nd-YAG laser is employed as emitting source and four channels are used for detecting back-scattering signals from atmosphere aerosol and cloud including 1064 nm Mie, 607 nm N2 Raman, two 532 nm Orthogonal Polarization channels. The temporal and spatial resolutions for this system, which is operating with a continuing mode (24/7) automatically, are 30s and 7.5m, respectively. The measured data are used for investigating the aerosol and cloud vertical structure and cloud phase from combining of cloud signal intensity, polarization ratio and color ratio.

Extensive studies have illustrated the importance of obtaining exact vertical structures of clouds and aerosols for satellite and relevant climate simulations. However, challenging exists, for example, in distinguishing clouds from aerosols at times. Accurate cloud vertical profiles are mainly determined by cloud bases and heights. Based on the ground-based lidar observations in Hefei Radiation Observatory (HeRO), the vertical structures of clouds and aerosols in Hefei area(31.89°N，117.17°E) during May 2012-May 2014 have been investigated. The results show that the cloud fraction in the autumn and winter is less than that in the summer and spring, and is largest in the spring followed by the summer. The cloud fractions in the autumn and winter are comparable. The low cloud accounts for the most portion of the total. Compared with the cloud of the other heights, the high cloud is the least in the winter. Nearly 50% of the total vertical profiles can be detected by lidar as clouds and the proportion of the cloud of different heights seems to be stable annually. The fraction of low cloud is nearly 45%, medium cloud is nearly 35%, and high cloud is nearly 20%. In comparison with the results derived from CALIPSO, it is found that high cloud is usually missed for the ground-based lidar, while low cloud is usually omitted for the satellite observations. A combination of ground-based and space-borne lidar could lead to more reliable results. Further analysis will be performed in future studies.

By using a charge-coupled device (CCD) as the detector, side-scatter lidar has great potential applications in the near range atmospheric detection. A new inversion method is proposed for CCD side-scatter lidar (Clidar) to retrieve aerosol phase function and vertical backscattering coefficient. Case studies show the retrieved results from Clidar are in good agreements with those obtained from other instruments. It indicates that the new proposed inversion method is reliable and feasible and that the Clidar is practicable.

A new method for independent calibration of water vapor Raman lidar by using additional measurements of elastic signals at water vapor Raman wavelength was introduced. The water vapor mixing ratio calibration constant was derived from nitrogen mixing ratio calibration constant and Rayleigh to water vapor Raman backscattering cross section ratio. The nitrogen mixing ratio calibration constant with uncertainties of 1~2% can be determined from the nitrogen mixing ratio measurement in an aerosolfree zone in the upper troposphere with the additional elastic measurement and nitrogen Raman measurement, the Rayleigh to water vapor Raman backscattering cross section ratio can be calculated with uncertainties of about 8%, or can be determined experimentally with uncertainties of less than 5%. Using the experimental cross section ratio, a total uncertainty of the water vapor calibration less than 6% is possible to achieve. Because this calibration method utilizes actual lidar signals in nitrogen and water vapor detection channels, the calibration can fully capture lidar state changes.

In theory, lidar overlap factor can be derived from the difference between the particle backscatter coefficient retrieved from lidar elastic signal without overlap correction and the actual particle backscatter coefficient, which can be obtained by other measured techniques. The side-scatter signal using a CCD camera is testified to be a powerful tool to detect the particle backscatter coefficient in near ground layer during night time. In experiment, by combining side-scatter and backscatter signals the geometric form factor for vertically-pointing Mie lidar in 532 nm channel is determined successfully, which is corrected by an iteration algorithm combining the retrieved particle backscatter coefficient using CCD sidescatter method and Fernald method. In this study, the method will be expanded to 1064 nm channel in dual-wavelength Mie lidar during routine campaigns. The experimental results in different atmosphere conditions demonstrated that the method present in this study is available in practice.

The lack of information on the vertical distribution of dust, in turn, results in large uncertainties when attempting to evaluate the impacts of dust on climate processes. We analyzed over two years of LIDAR measurements from NASA’s CALIPSO and CloudSat satellites to document the vertical pathways of transatlantic transport of Saharan dust. Our analysis overcomes the limitations of quantitative dust detections with passive satellite measurements over land and low clouds and provides the fine vertical resolved structures. The results show the strong seasonal shift in dust source regions and transportation pathways due to the meteorological and thermodynamical conditions, which also control the dust vertical distribution as well as the depth of the dust layer. The dust layer top descending rates of 35 m/degree in summer, 25 m/degree in autumn and spring, and 10 m/degree in winter are found, respectively, while the dust is being transported across the Atlantic. Comparison with the model simulation highlights the potentials of dust observations using CALIPSO LIDAR. The observed seasonal dependence of these pathways gives new insights into the transport of the Saharan dust and provides important guidance for simulations of the production and transport of the global dust aerosol.

In theory, lidar overlap factor can be derived from the difference between the particle backscatter coefficient retrieved from lidar elastic signal without overlap correction and the actual particle backscatter coefficient, which can be obtained by other measured techniques. The side-scatter technique using a CCD camera is testified to be a powerful tool to detect the particle backscatter coefficient in near ground layer during night time. A new experiment approach to determine the overlap factor for vertically pointing lidar is presented in this study, which can be applied to Mie lidars. The effect of overlap factor on Mie lidar is corrected by an iteration algorithm combining the retrieved particle backscatter coefficient using CCD side-scatter method and Fernald method. This method has been successfully applied to Mie lidar measurements during a routine campaign, and the comparison of experimental results in different atmosphere conditions demonstrated that this method is available in practice.

It is very important for daytime Raman lidar measurement of water vapor to determine the parameters of a band-pass filter, which are pertinent to the lidar signal to noise ratio (SNR). The simulated annealing (SA) algorithm method has an advantage in finding the extremum of a certain cost function. In this paper, the Raman spectrum of water vapor is simulated and then a first realization of a simulated annealing algorithm in the optimization of a band-pass filter of a Raman lidar system designed to detect daytime water vapor is presented. The simulated results indicate that the narrow band-pass filter has higher SNR than the wide filter does but there would be an increase in the temperature sensitivity of a narrowband Raman water vapor lidar in the upper troposphere. The numerical simulation indicates that the magnitude of the temperature dependent effect can reach 3.5% or more for narrow band-pass Raman water vapor measurements so it is necessary to consider a new water vapor Raman lidar equation that permits the temperature sensitivity of these equations to be confined to a single term.