Airborne Lidar Measurements

Abstract

Since the early 1980's, airborne lidar systems have been used for making remote measurementsof ozone, water vapor, and aerosols in studies of many important atmospheric processes. Recent ozone and aerosol investigations have been conducted in the troposphere over thetropical Atlantic and western Pacific and in the Arctic stratosphere, and water vapor, aerosols, and clouds in the troposphere were measured over land and water during daytime and nighttimeconditions. Advanced airborne systems are under development to demonstrate autonomousoperation of these lidar systems and to expand their measurement capabilities. In thenear future, lidar systems will be used in space to investigate a wide variety of global atmosphericprocesses. This paper describes the NASA Langley Research Center's airborne differentialabsorption lidar systems, discusses measurements with these systems in recent atmosphericinvestigations, and describes the development of advanced airborne and spacebornelidar systems.