RAMSES: German Meteorological Service autonomous Raman lidar for water vapor, temperature, aerosol, and cloud measurements.

The Raman lidar for atmospheric moisture sensing (RAMSES) for unattended, continuous multiparameter atmospheric profiling is presented. A seeded frequency-tripled Nd:YAG laser serves as the light source. A nine-channel polychromator, nonfiber coupled to the main telescope (790 mm diameter), is used for far-range measurements. Near-range observations are performed with a three-channel polychromator, fiber coupled to a secondary telescope (200 mm diameter). Measurement parameters are water-vapor mixing ratio (MR), temperature, and the optical particle parameters, which are extinction coefficient, backscatter coefficient, lidar ratio, and depolarization ratio at 355 nm. Profiles of water-vapor MR are measured from close to the surface up to 14 km at night and 5 km during the day under favorable atmospheric conditions in 20 min. Temperature profiles of the troposphere and lower stratosphere are determined with the rotational-Raman technique. For the detection of the rotational Raman signals, a new beamsplitter/interference-filter experimental setup is implemented that is compact, robust, and easy to align. Furthermore, the polychromator design allows two independent methods for calibrating measurements of depolarization ratio. RAMSES optical design concept and experimental setup are detailed, and a description of the operational near-real-time data evaluation software is given. A multiday observation is discussed to illustrate the measurement capabilities of RAMSES.

Vertical profiles of microphysical particle properties derived from inversion with two-dimensional regularization of multiwavelength Raman lidar data: experiment.

Inversion with two-dimensional (2-D) regularization is a new methodology that can be used for the retrieval of profiles of microphysical properties, e.g., effective radius and complex refractive index of atmospheric particles from complete (or sections) of profiles of optical particle properties. The optical profiles are acquired with multiwavelength Raman lidar. Previous simulations with synthetic data have shown advantages in terms of retrieval accuracy compared to our so-called classical one-dimensional (1-D) regularization, which is a method mostly used in the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET). The 1-D regularization suffers from flaws such as retrieval accuracy, speed, and ability for error analysis. In this contribution, we test for the first time the performance of the new 2-D regularization algorithm on the basis of experimental data. We measured with lidar an aged biomass-burning plume over West/Central Europe. For comparison, we use particle in situ data taken in the smoke plume during research aircraft flights upwind of the lidar. We find good agreement for effective radius and volume, surface-area, and number concentrations. The retrieved complex refractive index on average is lower than what we find from the in situ observations. Accordingly, the single-scattering albedo that we obtain from the inversion is higher than what we obtain from the aircraft data. In view of the difficult measurement situation, i.e., the large spatial and temporal distances between aircraft and lidar measurements, this test of our new inversion methodology is satisfactory.

Lidar measurements of Raman scattering at ultraviolet wavelength from mineral dust over East Asia.

We developed a novel measurement channel that utilizes Raman scattering from silicon dioxide (SiO2) quartz at an ultraviolet wavelength (361 nm). The excitation of the Raman signals is done at the primary wavelength of 355 nm emitted from a lidar instrument. In combination with Raman signals from scattering from nitrogen molecules, we may infer the mineral-quartz-related backscatter coefficient. This technique thus allows us to identify in a comparably direct way the mineral quartz content in mixed pollution plumes that consist, e.g., of a mix of desert dust and urban pollution. We tested the channel for the complex situation of East Asian pollution. We find good agreement of the inferred mineral-quartz-related backscatter coefficient to results obtained with another mineral quartz channel which was operated at 546 nm (primary emission wavelength at 532 nm), the functionality of which has already been shown for a lidar system in Tsukuba (Japan). The advantage of the novel channel is that it provides a better signal-to-noise ratio because of the shorter measurement wavelength.

Systematic error of lidar profiles caused by a polarization-dependent receiver transmission: quantification and error correction scheme.

Signals of many types of aerosol lidars can be affected with a significant systematic error, if depolarizing scatterers are present in the atmosphere. That error is caused by a polarization-dependent receiver transmission. In this contribution we present an estimation of the magnitude of this systematic error. We show that lidar signals can be biased by more than 20%, if linearly polarized laser light is emitted, if both polarization components of the backscattered light are measured with a single detection channel, and if the receiver transmissions for these two polarization components differ by more than 50%. This signal bias increases with increasing ratio between the two transmission values (transmission ratio) or with the volume depolarization ratio of the scatterers. The resulting error of the particle backscatter coefficient increases with decreasing backscatter ratio. If the particle backscatter coefficients are to have an accuracy better than 5%, the transmission ratio has to be in the range between 0.85 and 1.15. We present a method to correct the measured signals for this bias. We demonstrate an experimental method for the determination of the transmission ratio. We use collocated measurements of a lidar system strongly affected by this signal bias and an unbiased reference system to verify the applicability of the correction scheme. The errors in the case of no correction are illustrated with example measurements of fresh Saharan dust.

Potential of lidar backscatter data to estimate solar aerosol radiative forcing.

The potential to estimate solar aerosol radiative forcing (SARF) in cloudless conditions from backscatter data measured by widespread standard lidar has been investigated. For this purpose 132 days of sophisticated ground-based Raman lidar observations (profiles of particle extinction and backscatter coefficients at 532 nm wavelength) collected during two campaigns [the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET) and the Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX)] were analyzed. Particle extinction profiles were used as input for radiative transfer simulations with which to calculate the SARF, which then was plotted as a function of the column (i.e., height-integrated) particle backscatter coefficient (beta(c)). A close correlation between the SARF and beta(c) was found. SARF-beta(c) parameterizations in the form of polynomial fits were derived that exhibit an estimated uncertainty of +/-(10-30)%. These parameterizations can be utilized to analyze data of upcoming lidar satellite missions and for other purposes. The EARLINET-based parameterizations can be applied to lidar measurements at mostly continental, highly industrialized sites with limited maritime influence (Europe, North America), whereas the INDOEX parameterizations rather can be employed in polluted maritime locations, e.g., coastal regions of south and east Asia.

Daytime operation of a pure rotational Raman lidar by use of a Fabry-Perot interferometer.

We propose to use a Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) in a pure rotational Raman lidar to isolate return signals that are due to pure rotational Raman scattering from atmospheric nitrogen against the sky background. The main idea of this instrumental approach is that a FPI is applied as a frequency comb filter with the transmission peaks accurately matched to a comb of practically equidistant lines of a pure rotational Raman spectrum (PRRS) of nitrogen molecules. Thus a matched FPI transmission comb cuts out the spectrally continuous sky background light from the spectral gaps between the PRRS lines of nitrogen molecules while it is transparent to light within narrow spectral intervals about these lines. As the width of the spectral gaps between the lines of the PRRS of nitrogen molecules is -114 times the width of an individual spectral line, cutting out of the sky background from these gaps drastically improves the signal-to-background ratio of the pure rotational Raman lidar returns. This application of the FPI enables one to achieve daytime temperature profiling in the atmosphere with a pure rotational Raman lidar in the visible and near-UV spectral regions. We present an analysis of application of the FPI to filtering out the pure rotational Raman lidar returns against the solar background. To demonstrate the feasibility of the approach proposed, we present temperature profiles acquired during a whole-day measurement session in which a Raman lidar equipped with a FPI was used. For comparison, temperature profiles acquired with Vaisala radiosondes launched from the measurement site are also presented.

Relative-humidity profiling in the troposphere with a Raman lidar.

We describe a Raman-lidar-based approach to acquiring profiles of the relative humidity of air. For this purpose we combined in one instrument the Raman-lidar techniques that are used for the profiling of water vapor and temperature. This approach enabled us to acquire, for the first time to our knowledge, vertical profiles of relative humidity through the entire troposphere exclusively from Raman-lidar data. The methods applied to determining the water-vapor mixing ratio, temperature, and relative humidity and the corresponding uncertainties caused by systematic errors and signal noise are presented. The lidar-derived profiles are compared with profiles measured with radiosondes. Radiosonde observations are also used to calibrate the Raman lidar. Close agreement of the profiles of relative humidity measured with lidar and those measured with radiosonde demonstrates the potential of this novel approach.