Open AccessAirborne compact rotational Raman lidar for temperature measurement
Author(s) -
Decheng Wu,
Zhien Wang,
Perry Wechsler,
Nick Mahon,
Min Deng,
Brent Glover,
Matthew Burkhart,
William Kuestner,
Ben Heesen
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.24.0a1210
Subject(s) - radiosonde , lidar , environmental science , remote sensing , temperature measurement , atmospheric optics , atmospheric temperature , atmosphere (unit) , aerosol , meteorology , atmospheric sciences , water vapor , range (aeronautics) , optics , potential temperature , materials science , physics , geology , quantum mechanics , composite material
We developed an airborne compact rotational Raman lidar (CRL) for use on the University of Wyoming King Air (UWKA) aircraft to obtain two-dimensional (2D) temperature disman tributions. It obtained fine-scale 2D temperature distributions within 3 km below the aircraft for the first time during the PECAN (Plains Elevated Convection At Night) campaign in 2015. The CRL provided nighttime temperature measurements with a random error of <0.5 K within 800 m below aircraft at 45 m vertical and 1000 m horizontal resolution. The temperatures obtained by the CRL and a radiosonde agreed. Along with water vapor and aerosol measurements, the CRL provides critical parameters on the state of the lower atmosphere for a wide range of atmospheric research.