Aerosol backscatter measurements at 10. 6 micrometers with airborne and ground-based CO sub 2 Doppler lidars over the Colorado high plains. 1. Lidar intercomparison

Journal Article · Wed Mar 20 00:00:00 EST 1991 · Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/90JD02156· OSTI ID:5398046

Bowdle, D A ^[1]; Rothermel, J ^[2]; Vaughan, J M; Brown, D W ^[3]; Post, M J ^[4]

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1. Univ. of Alabama, Huntsville (USA)
2. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL (USA)
3. Royal Signals and Radar Establishment, Worcestershire (England)
4. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, CO (USA)

An airborne continuous wave (CW) focused CO{sub 2} Doppler lidar and a ground-based pulsed CO{sub 2} Doppler lidar were used to obtain seven pairs of comparative measurements of tropospheric aerosol backscatter profiles at 10.6 {mu}m wavelength, near Denver, Colorado, during a 20-day period in July 1982. In regions of uniform backscatter the two lidars show good agreement, with differences usually less than {approximately}50% near 8-km altitude and less than a factor of 2 or 3 elsewhere but with the pulsed lidar often lower than the CW lidar. Near sharp backscatter gradients the two lidars show poorer agreement, with the pulsed lidar usually higher than the CW lidar. Most discrepancies arise from a combination of atmospheric factors and instrument factors, particularly small-scale areal and temporal backscatter heterogeneity above the planetary boundary layer, unusual large-scale vertical backscatter structure in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere, and differences in the spatial resolution, detection threshold, and noise estimation for the two lidars.

• OSTI ID: 5398046
• Journal Information: Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States), Vol. 96:D3; ISSN 0148-0227
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AEROSOLS
BACKSCATTERING
AIRCRAFT
ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY
BOUNDARY LAYERS
CARBON DIOXIDE
COLORADO
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DOPPLER EFFECT
OPTICAL RADAR
REMOTE SENSING
TROPOSPHERE
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMISTRY
COLLOIDS
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
DISPERSIONS
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
EVALUATION
FEDERAL REGION VIII
LAYERS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
NORTH AMERICA
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
RADAR
RANGE FINDERS
SCATTERING
SOLS
USA
540120* - Environment
Atmospheric- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)