The Development of a Scanning Raman Water Vapor Lidar for Boundary Layer and Tropospheric Observations

Abstract

A scanning, ultraviolet, Raman water vapor lidar designed primarily for boundary layer measurements has been built and operated by the Los Alamos National Laboratory Ground-Based Earth Observing Network team. The system provides high temporal and spatial resolution measurements of the atmosphere within and above the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). Several examples of the types of data collected and the techniques for processing the data are presented. The typical horizontal range for the lidar is approximately 700 m when scanning, while the vertical range with photon counting can be up to 12 km with corresponding spatial resolutions of 1.5 m in the near field to 75 m in the far field. The uncertainty in the water vapor mixing ratio was found to be ±0.34 g kg−1. The development of the scanning Raman lidar is directed at questions about the behavior of the surface atmosphere interface. These questions address the nature of spatial variability and intermittent microscale convective transport in the ABL and lower troposphere.