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It has generally been assumed that differential absorption lidar (DIAL) systems are incapable of measuring atmospheric temperature with useful accuracy. This assumption is a direct result of errors that arise in standard DIAL retrievals due to differential Rayleigh-Doppler broadening from aerosols and molecules. We present here, a combined high spectral resolution (HSRL) and DIAL system that addresses this identified source of uncertainty by measuring quantitative aerosol parameters as well as oxygen absorption parameters. This system, in combination with a perturbative retrieval method, accounts for the Rayleigh-Doppler broadening effects on the oxygen absorption. We describe this combined DIAL/HSRL system and retrieval to evaluate the first retrieval parameters exploring the likelihood that it is possible to measure atmospheric temperature using a DIAL system.

The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and Montana State University (MSU) have developed a test network of five micro-pulse Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) instruments to continuously measure high-vertical-resolution water vapor in the lower atmosphere. The instruments are accurate, low-cost, operate unattended, and eye-safe – all key features to enable larger ‘national-scale’ networks needed to characterize atmo-spheric moisture variability which influences important processes related to weather and climate.

We have adapted the Poisson Total Variation lidar signal processing technique for Micro-Pulse DIAL water vapor estimates. This processing technique ingests data at 10 second-37.5 meter resolution where it adaptively adjusts the retrieval resolution based on signal-to-noise and performs range deconvolution. The result is high resolution data in regions with ample signal, preservation of sharp discontinuities where they exist, and a data product that better represents of the acquired photon counting data than the standard processing technique.

The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and Montana State Univeristy (MSU) are developing a test network of five micro-pulse differential absorption lidars to continuously measure high-vertical-resolution water vapor in the lower atmosphere. The instruments are accurate, yet low-cost; operate unattended, and eye-safe – all key features to enable the larger network needed to characterize atmospheric moisture variability which influences important processes related to weather and climate.

A concept for an eye-safe, semiconductor-based high spectral resolution lidar has been developed at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. The lidar operates at a wavelength of 780 nm near several rubidium absorption peaks. A rubidium vapor cell is used to block aerosol backscatter in one channel to provide a molecular backscatter measurement for calculating extinction and backscatter ratio (calibrated backscatter). Laser and optical components around 780 nm are widely developed due to the large growth in atomic cooling and trapping of rubidium. Thus this instrument can be built largely using mature commercial-off-the-shelf parts. The simulation of the conceptual design shown here uses known commercial products and suggests that such an instrument could be used for quantitative profiling of the lower troposphere.

An advanced diode-laser-based water vapor differential absorption lidar (WV-DIAL) has been developed. The next generation design was built on the success of previous diode-laser-based prototypes and enables accurate measurement of water vapor closer to the ground surface, in rapidly changing atmospheric conditions, and in daytime cloudy conditions up to cloud base. The lidar provides up to 1 min resolution, 150 m range resolved measurements of water vapor in a broad range of atmospheric conditions. A description of the instrument and results from its initial field test in 2014 are discussed.

The GV-HSRL is a high spectral resolution lidar capable of measuring calibrated backscatter, extinction and circular depolarization from the ground or NSF Gulfstream V platform. In the spring of 2012, the instrument was modified to measure the full backscatter matrix of atmospheric scatterers. This modification enabled us to investigate the polarization properties of oriented particles and further understand where particles orient and how they may impact depolarization lidar data. Observations were performed from the ground at different times with the lidar’s tilt angle at 4°, 22° and 32° degrees off zenith. This instrument found oriented ice crystals only produced observable polarization effects at the 32° lidar tilt angle. By contrast, a significant fraction of rain observations have oriented scattering matrices at all three lidar tilt angles. Thus conventional depolarization lidar is generally well suited for characterizing ice crystals but not liquid precipitation. Oriented ice crystals are most commonly investigated by looking for specular scatter from horizontally oriented plates. While this method offers excellent sensitivity to small populations of oriented plats, it has very little capability to determine the fraction of oriented plates if the population is larger than about 1%. We show here that observing f12 scattering matrix element at 32° off zenith may be more effective for estimating the oriented fraction of particles in a volume.

In this paper, we analyze the performance of an all-fiber, micropulse, 1.5 μm coherent lidar for remote sensing of atmospheric temperature. The proposed system benefits from the recent advances in optics/electronics technology, especially an all-fiber image-reject homodyne receiver, where a high resolution spectrum in the baseband can be acquired. Due to the presence of a structured spectra resulting from the spontaneous Rayleigh-Brillouine scattering, associated with the relevant operating regimes, an accurate estimation of the temperature can be carried out. One of the main advantages of this system is the removal of the contaminating Mie backscatter signal by electronic filters at the baseband (before signal conditioning and amplification). The paper presents the basic concepts as well as a Monte-Carlo system simulation as the proof of concept.