Abstract
Water vapor is one of the most important constituents in the Earth's atmosphere. It fuelsstorm development and is the most infra-red active at mospheric molecule. It plays a majorrole in dynamics and radiative transfer. The Raman lidar development at NASA Goddard isable to measure water vapor profiles, at night, from near the surface to ranges of 9-10 kmalong any elevation angle from horizon to horizon in a single plane. The lidar has been used ina number of field studies since it's first deployment in the fall of 1991. Comparisons of lidar derivedmoisture profiles with radio-sonde measurements have shown good agreement for warmmoist conditions. Consistent disagreement has been noted for sondes using carbon hygristorswhen the relative humidity is below about 20%
