Evaluation of tropospheric water vapor profiling using eye-safe, infrared differential absorption lidar

摘要

Continuous, high quality profiles of water vapor, free of systematic bias, and of moderate temporal and spatial resolution are fundamental to the success of the ARM CART program. In addition, these should be acquired over long periods at low operational and maintenance cost. The development and verification of realistic climate model parameterizations for clouds and net radiation balance, and the correction of other CART site sensor observations for interferences due to the presence of water vapor are critically dependent on water vapor profile measurements. To date, application of profiles have been limited by vertical resolution and uniqueness and high operating cost, or diminished daytime performance, lack of eye-safety, and high maintenance cost. Recent developments in infrared laser and detector technology make possible compact IR differential absorption lidar (DIAL) systems at eye-safe wavelengths. In the studies reported here, we develop DIAL system performance models and examine the potential of solving some of the shortcomings of previous methods using parameters representative of current technologies. These simulations are also applied to determine the strengths and weaknesses unique to the DIAL method for this application.