Open AccessLow stratospheric water vapor measured by an airborne DIAL
Author(s) -
Ehret Gerhard,
Hoinka Klaus P.,
Stein Joël,
Fix Andreas,
Kiemle Christoph,
Poberaj Gorazd
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: atmospheres
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/1999jd900959
Subject(s) - dial , water vapor , mesoscale meteorology , lidar , environmental science , remote sensing , backscatter (email) , wavelength , atmosphere (unit) , atmospheric sounding , altitude (triangle) , stratosphere , atmospheric sciences , meteorology , optics , materials science , physics , geology , acoustics , telecommunications , geometry , mathematics , computer science , wireless
Water vapor measurements are presented which were performed with a newly developed airborne water vapor differential absorption lidar (DIAL). The transmitter of this DIAL system consists of an injection‐seeded optical parametric oscillator at a signal wavelength of ≈940 nm capable of measuring very low values of water vapor (10 ppmv). The instrument was tested in an experiment where the aircraft crossed a potential vorticity streamer at about 12 km altitude. The downward looking DIAL can scan vertical cross sections in the atmosphere up to a range of 6 km, with a resolution of about 30 km in the horizontal and 250 m in the vertical. The measured data show significant water vapor structures of 5–100 ppmv within the stratospheric air of the streamer. The measured cross section is compared with fields simulated by a mesoscale model and analyzed from operational data. The comparison of the three data fields shows good agreement in water vapor structures and magnitudes. In addition, the streamer exhibits a clear structure in the aerosol backscatter lidar scan.