Cuban Weather Radar Network Modernization.

Orlando L. Rodríguez, Marco A. Pérez. Roberto A. Naranjo, Leonardo L. Fernández, Arturo A. Peña and, Albio Barreiras.

Technical Development Laboratory, Camagüey Meteorological Center.
G. Postal 160, C. P. 70100, Camagüey, Cuba

The Cuban Weather Radar Network is composed by 3 RC-32B (Japan) and 4 MRL-5 (Russia). In 1993 the Cuban Meteorological Service decided to mount a modernized radar prototype at Camagüey Meteorological Center, incorporating computer control and data acquisition hardware to achieve fully unmanned operation. Modernization of conventional weather rad...

Laser remote sensing of planetary boundary layer properties with a compact fast repetition rate instrument.

Steffen Frey

Freie Universität Berlin, Physics Department, Arnimallee 14,14195 Berlin,Germany

The planetary boundary layer is characterized by turbulence and high concentrations of atmospheric pollution. Measurements of spatial resolved time series of planetary boundary layer properties are essential to study and understand a variety of optical, chemical and dynamical processes. For a lot of measurands lidar is the optimal solution, provided that the inversion problem, the calculation of the measurand out of the signal, can be solved satisfyingly. Furthermore the instrument setup should be simple enough, to guar...

Systematic tropospheric aerosol lidar measurements.

G. Pappalardo, A. Amodeo, L. Mona and M. Pandolfi

Istituto di Metodologie per l’Analisi Ambientale IMAA- CNR, C.da S. Loja, Tito Scalo, Potenza, I-85050, Italy,

Systematic lidar measurements of aerosol backscatter and extinction in the troposphere were performed since May 2000 with the aerosol lidar system operational at IMAA-CNR in Tito Scalo (Potenza) (Southern Italy, 40°36’ N, 15°44’ E, 820 m above sea level) in the frame of EARLINET project, the first European network of 20 advanced lidar stations operating to provide a quantitative climatological database of the horizon...

Saharan dust events measured by an elastic-Raman lidar at Lecce.

Ferdinando De Tomasi, Maria Rita Perrone and Anna Maria Tafuro

Istituo Nazionale di Fisica della Materia, Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Lecce, LECCE (Italy)

The Sahara region is one of the most important sources of aerosols on the world wide scale. During sand storms, dust is raised by convective motion until the upper troposphere, from which it can be effectively transported to the Mediterranean basin and Europe. We report in this paper one year of observations of Sahara dust outbreaks monitored in Lecce (40°20’ N, 18°6’ E) between May, 2000, and April, 2001. This activity has been...

Saharan Dust Events Observed in the Tropics and Subtropics by a Shipborne Aerosol Raman Lidar

Franz Immler and Otto Schrems

AWI Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research Bremerhaven/Germany

Results of Lidar observations made aboard the German research vessel Polarstern will be presented. The measurements have been performed with AWI’s mobile Aerosol Raman Lidar (MARL). Extended Saharan dust layers in an altitude range between 2 and 6 km have been observed on two occasions around 10° N and 30° N. The continental, North African origin of the corresponding air masses has been confirmed by backward trajectories. The dust is characterized by an optical depth between 0.1 and 0.3, a depola...

Lidar Measurements of Tropical Subvisual Cirrus (Tsc) Above the Central Atlantic Ocean.

Franz Immler and Otto Schrems

AWI Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research Bremerhaven/Germany

Extended high altitude cirrus were observed during a cruise of the German research vessel Polarstern by AWI’s Mobile Aerosol Raman Lidar (MARL) in the tropical region. The clouds occurred between 8° S and 12° N along 22° W during 34 hrs of observations from May 30th to June 3rd 2000. The altitude, vertical and optical depth at 532 nm and 355 nm of the clouds are determined from the Lidar data, as well as depolarization at these wavelengths.

The clouds appear in an altitude...

Cloud Cover and Sea Breeze Effects on Boundary Layer Development over Metro Manila, Philippines.

Genelita B. Tubal¹, Mariano Estoque² and John Holdsworth²

¹University of the Philippines – NISMED, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines
²Ateneo de Manila University, Loyola Heights, Quezon City, Philippines

The development of the daytime boundary layer (BL) over Metro Manila, Philippines in May 1999 was observed using a monostatic, biaxial, vertically-pointing Mie Scattering 532 nm Nd:YAG lidar. Together with meteorological and satellite cloud cover data, it was observed that the BL development and much of its detailed structure were greatly affect...

Measurement of Minor Constituents in the Atmosphere Over a Horizontal Path Using Differential Absorption Lidar.

S.L. Jain, B.C. Arya and Arun Kumar

Radio and Atmospheric Science Division, National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi – 110012

The measurement of various minor constituents is of great significance to understand physics, Chemistry and dynamics of the atmosphere. The natural and anthropogenic activities affect the chemical composition of the atmosphere and have important implications for life support system on the mother planet, the Earth. Therefore regular monitoring of various trace species in the atmosphere plays an important role. The Differential Absorption LIDAR (DIAL) has been proved to be ...

Multiwavelength measurements of the twilight sky brightness as a useful supplement to a lidar network.

Nina Mateshvili, Iuri Mateshvili and Giuli Mateshvili.

Abastumani Astrophysical Observatory, Kazbegi av, 2a,Tbilisi, 380060, Republic of Georgia

Spectral photometric measurements of the twilight sky brightness in visible diapason of the spectrum under solar zenith angles 90° to 96° give a possibility to detect stratospheric aerosol stratification profiles. A comparison of such measurements with stratospheric lidar data may be mutually beneficial. The twilight photometry usually gives information about aerosol also at altitudes higher then 25 km where lidars are less sensitive. Besides that, wide spectral rang...

Relationship between the TOMS Aerosol Index and the aerosol optical thickness as measured at a AERONET station in a highly polluted atmosphere.

J.C. Peláez¹, A. Leyva², I. Borrajero¹, O. Torres³ and B. Holben⁴

¹Centro de Física de la Atmósfera, Instituto de Meteorología de Cuba
²Instituto de Geofísica, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM, México
³Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
⁴NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA

A comparison is made between the Aerosol ...

Aerosol measurements in the Central Andes using a Multiwave Radiometer.

F. Ghezzi, P. Saavedra, E. Palenque, R. Forno and F. Zaratti

Laboratorio de Física de la Atmósfera, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, La Paz, Bolivia

Preliminary results of aerosol measurements in the central Andes using a multiwave radiometer are discussed. The instrument measures optical depth at ten wavelengths, in the visible to the near infrared, enabling studies on physical features of aerosols. Monthly, seasonal and spectral variations of the optical depth indicate that the Andean atmosphere has more complexity than previously thought. These results could have important implications on the ...

The high-altitude aircraft M55-GEOPHYSICA: A unique platform for remote and in-situ measurements in the tropical tropopause region.

L. Stefanutti , A. Kentarchos , R. MacKenzie , V. Santacesaria and Th. Peter

European Economic Interest Group – GEOPHYSICA, Florence, Italy.
Environmental Research & Services (ERS-Srl), Florence, Italy.
University of Lancaster, Dept. of Environmental Sciences, Lancaster, UK.
Previously with IROE-CNR, Florence, Italy.
ETH, Zurich, Switzerland.

We present a brief description of the Russian high-altitude aircraft M55-Geophysica, as a platform for atmospheric measurements. Special attention is given to the lidar systems on-board: a) a high power lidar emitting at 1064, 532 and 355 nm...

Spaceborne Lidar Developments at The European Space Agency.

Errico Armandillo

ESA/ESTEC, TOS-MME, EU

Three lidar types are presently under study/development at the European Space Agency for advanced atmospheric research, Meteorology and Climatology: a Doppler wind lidar (DWL), a Differential Absorption lidar (DIAL), and a Backscattering lidar (ATLID). The DWL instrument, Aladin (Atmospheric Lidar Doppler Instrument) will be flown on board of the ADM-Aeolus atmospheric research satellite. ADM-Aeolus will provide globally wind profiles from 0 to 20 Km, with a 0.5 to 2 Km vertical resolution and 1-2 m/sec accuracy. Aladin utilises a tripled-Nd:YAG laser, diode-pumped with direct...

Stratospheric Ozone Lidar Mobile System.

A. Pazmiño^1,2,3, E. Wolfram^1,4, D. Lazarte^1,5, J. Porteneuve², S. Godin-Beekmann2 and E. Quel¹

¹Centro de Investigaciones en Láseres y Aplicaciones (CITEFA-CONICET), Villa Martelli, Argentina
²Service d'Aéronomie, Institut Pierre Simon Laplace, CNRS, Paris, France
³Fellow of Estenssoro Grant of Repsol-YPF Foundation
⁴Fellow of CONICET
⁵Fellow of Universidad Nacional de General San Martín (UNSAM)

The CEILAP's (Centro de Investigaciones en L&a...

Determining Mount Pinatubo stratospheric aerosol variability using lidar and SAGE II measurements.

Juan C. Antuña¹, Alan Robock² and Georgiy L. Stenchikov²

¹Camagüey Lidar Station, Camagüey Meteorological Center, Camagüey 70100, Cuba
2Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

When comparing vertical extinction profiles of stratospheric aerosols from different instruments, and for using this information in data assimilation, it is important to characterize the variability of the observations. For the largest eruption of the 20th century, the June 15, 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption in the Philippines, w...

Use of Lidar Aerosol Measurements in Climate Modeling.

Georgiy L. Stenchikov and Alan Robock

Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey

Large volcanic eruptions inject sulfur gases into the stratosphere, which convert to sulfate aerosols with an e-folding residence time of about 1 year. The radiative and chemical effects of this aerosol cloud produce responses in the climate system. By scattering some solar radiation back to space, the aerosols cool the surface, but by absorbing both solar and terrestrial radiation, the aerosol layer heats the stratosphere. These particles also serve as surfaces for heterogeneous ...

The role of lidar observations in formulating the SPARC Stratospheric Aerosol Climatology.

Patrick Hamill¹, Colette Brogniez², Christine David³ and Larry Thomason⁴

¹Physics Department, San Jose State University, San Jose, California, USA
²Laboratoire d'Optique Atmospherique, Universite des Sciences et Technologies de Lille, France
³CNRS Service Aeronomie, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France
⁴NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, USA

SPARC (Stratospheric Processes and their Role in Climate) is carrying out a Stratospheric Aerosol Climatology which will be primar...

Lidar remote sensing of cirrus clouds in Camagüey, Cuba, present and future.

Boris Barja

Camagüey Lidar Station, Meteorological Center of Camagüey, Cuba.

Recently, the sub – tropical cirrus clouds have called the attention in the international community. Cirrus have an important contribution in the radiative forcing of the earth atmosphere system. Also they play an important role in the dehidratation process taking place in the high troposphere and contributing to the presence the water vapour in the low stratosphere. Also, these clouds could serve as the surfaces of reaction contribute to the distribution of different gaseous species.

At Camagüey Lidar Station ...

Design and Construction of an Amplifier Discriminator and Multichannel Scaler for Photon Counting in a Lidar System.

R. Pantoja¹, J. Morales¹, E. Rodríguez¹, J. León¹, F. Racedo¹, A. Bastidas¹, M. Jaramillo² and E. Solarte³

¹Optics and Laser Group; Department of Physics, Universidad del Cauca / Popayán - Colombia
²Cleaner Production Group; Pontificia Universidad Javeriana / Cali - Colombia
³Quantum Optics Group; Department of Physics, Universidad del Valle / Cali – Colombia

In the process of photons counting, the first step is the filtering of the PMT...

Raman backscatter water vapor lidar at CEILAP, Argentina.

E. Wolfram^1,2, P. D’Aulerio³, F. Fierli³, A. Pazmiño^1,4, D. Lazarte^1,6, F. Congeduti³, J. Porteneuve⁵ and E. Quel¹.

¹Centro de Investigaciones en Láseres y Aplicaciones (CITEFA-CONICET), Villa Martelli, Argentina
²Fellow of CONICET
³Istituto di Science dell’Atmosfera e del Clima – ISAC, Rome, Italy
⁴Fellow of Estenssoro Grant of Repsol-YPF Foundation
⁵SA, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France.
^...

Wideband Radar for measuring precipitation.

Kaz Adamowski

Department of Civil Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada, K1N6N5

Accurate small scale space-time measurements of precipitation are needed to make future progress in understanding, modeling and predicting precipitation. A new radar system was designed and a prototype manufactured based on wideband TEM-Horn antenna. The radar has plus-minus one-half degree beam width capable of transmitting/receiving pulses of duration 1ns and rise time of 2 ps, operating in the frequency range of 1 to 300GHz covering the whole relevant frequency spectrum.

The manufactured radar was calibrated and t...