First-Year Operation of a New Water Vapor Raman Lidar at the JPL Table Mountain Facility, California

Leblanc, Thierry; McDermid, I. Stuart; Aspey, Robin

doi:10.1175/2007jtecha978.1

Cited by 31 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…The JPL water vapor Raman lidar at TMF (TMW) is a high-capability lidar system dedicated to the measurement of water vapor in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (Leblanc et al, 2008(Leblanc et al, , 2012a. The light emitted by a Nd:YAG laser at 355 nm is inelastically backscattered by atmospheric nitrogen and water vapor, and collected at 387 nm and 407 nm respectively.…”

Section: Lidarsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Validation of MIPAS IMK/IAA temperature, water vapor, and ozone profiles with MOHAVE-2009 campaign measurements

et al. 2012

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Abstract. MIPAS observations of temperature, water vapor, and ozone in October 2009 as derived with the scientific level-2 processor run by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK) and CSIC, Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA) and retrieved from version 4.67 level-1b data have been compared to co-located field campaign observations obtained during the MOHAVE-2009 campaign at the Table Mountain Facility near Pasadena, California in October 2009. The MIPAS measurements were validated regarding any potential biases of the profiles, and with respect to their precision estimates. The MOHAVE-2009 measurement campaign provided measurements of atmospheric profiles of temperature, water vapor/relative humidity, and ozone from the ground to the mesosphere by a suite of instruments including radiosondes, ozonesondes, frost point hygrometers, lidars, microwave radiometers and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometers. For MIPAS temperatures (version V4O T 204), no significant bias was detected in the middle stratosphere; between 22 km and the tropopause MIPAS temperatures were found to be biased low by up to 2 K, while below the tropopause, they were found to be too high by the same amount. These findings confirm earlier comparisons of MIPAS temperatures to ECMWF data which revealed similar differences. Above 12 km up to 45 km, MIPAS water vapor (version V4O H2O 203) is well within 10 % of the data of all correlative instruments. The well-known dry bias of MIPAS water vapor above 50 km due to neglect of non-LTE effects in the current retrievals has been confirmed. Some instruments indicate that MIPAS water vapor might be biased high by 20 to 40 % around 10 km (or 5 km below the tropopause), but a consistent picture from all comparisons could not be derived. MIPAS ozone (version V4O O3 202) has a high bias of up to +0.9 ppmv around 37 km which is due to a non-identified continuum like radiance contribution. No further significant biases have been detected. Cross-comparison to co-located observations of other satellite instruments (Aura/MLS, ACE-FTS, AIRS) is provided as well.

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Section: Lidarsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Validation of MIPAS IMK/IAA temperature, water vapor, and ozone profiles with MOHAVE-2009 campaign measurements

et al. 2012

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“…(5 % or better) (Leblanc et al, 2008a). The instrument, referred to as "TMW" in the remainder of this paper, has been optimized over the years and is now capable of producing routine measurements of water vapor between 4 km and 15-20 km with a precision of 10 % or better, and 5 % accuracy.…”

Section: T Leblanc Et Al: Ground-based Water Vapor Raman Lidar Measmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ground-based water vapor raman lidar measurements up to the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere for long-term monitoring

2012

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Abstract. Recognizing the importance of water vapor in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) and the scarcity of high-quality, long-term measurements, JPL began the development of a powerful Raman lidar in 2005 to try to meet these needs. This development was endorsed by the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC) and the validation program for the EOSAura satellite. In this paper we review the stages in the instrumental development, data acquisition and analysis, profile retrieval and calibration procedures of the lidar, as well as selected results from three validation campaigns: MOHAVE (Measurements of Humidity in the Atmosphere and Validation Experiments), MOHAVE-II, and MOHAVE 2009. In particular, one critical result from this latest campaign is the very good agreement (well below the reported uncertainties) observed between the lidar and the Cryogenic FrostPoint Hygrometer in the entire lidar range 3-20 km, with a mean bias not exceeding 2 % (lidar dry) in the lower troposphere, and 3 % (lidar moist) in the UTLS. Ultimately the lidar has demonstrated capability to measure water vapor profiles from ∼1 km above the ground to the lower stratosphere with a precision of 10 % or better near 13 km and below, and an estimated accuracy of 5 %. Since 2005, nearly 1000 profiles have been routinely measured, and since 2009, the profiles have typically reached 14 km for one-hour integration times and 1.5 km vertical resolution, and can reach 21 km for 6-h integration times using degraded vertical resolutions.These performance figures show that, with our present target of routinely running our lidar two hours per night, 4 nights per week, we can achieve measurements with a precision in the UTLS equivalent to that achieved if launching one CFH per month.

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“…In particular, for the MAIDO RMR-H 2 O lidar two methods are used: the calibration lamp (CL), and the passive daytime observations (PDOs). As highlighted by the works of Leblanc and McDermid (2008) and of Whiteman et al (2011a) for CL and by the work of Hoareau et al (2009) for PDOs, these methods cannot be used to provide an accurate quantification of the system optical efficiency, but only to identify ISPs.…”

Section: System Monitoring: Calibration Lamp and Passive Daytime Obsementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Over the past decades, Raman lidar capabilities have been successively upgraded with larger commercial laser power availability and improvements on the configuration of the systems (Sakai et al, 2007;Leblanc et al, 2008;Whiteman et al, 2010;Dinoev et al, 2013). The acceptance of the Raman lidar approach within the NDACC attests that the technique has achieved a comfortable level of maturity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water vapor observations up to the lower stratosphere through the Raman lidar during the Maïdo Lidar Calibration Campaign

et al. 2015

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Abstract.A new lidar system devoted to tropospheric and lower stratospheric water vapor measurements has been installed at the Maïdo altitude station facility of Réunion island, in the southern subtropics.To evaluate the performances and the capabilities of the new system with a particular focus on UTLS (Upper Troposphere Lower Stratosphere) measurements, the Maïdo Lidar Calibration Campaign (MALICCA) was performed in April 2013.Varying the characteristics of the transmitter and the receiver components, different system configuration scenarios were tested and possible parasite signals (fluorescent contamination, rejection) were investigated. A hybrid calibration methodology has been set up and validated to insure optimal lidar calibration stability with time. In particular, the receiver transmittance is monitored through the calibration lamp method that, at the moment, can detect transmittance variations greater than 10-15 %. Calibration coefficients are then calculated through the hourly values of IWV (Integrated Water Vapor) provided by the co-located GPS. The comparison between the constants derived by GPS and Vaisala RS92 radiosondes launched at Maïdo during MALICCA, points out an acceptable agreement in terms of accuracy of the mean calibration value (with a difference of approximately 2-3 %), but a significant difference in terms of variability (14 % vs. 7-9 %, for GPS and RS92 calibration procedures, respectively).We obtained a relatively good agreement between the lidar measurements and 15 co-located and simultaneous RS92 radiosondes. A relative difference below 10 % is measured in the low and middle troposphere (2-10 km). The upper troposphere (up to 15 km) is characterized by a larger spread (approximately 20 %), because of the increasing distance between the two sensors.To measure water vapor in the UTLS region, nighttime and monthly water vapor profiles are presented and compared. The good agreement between the lidar monthly profile and the mean WVMR profile measured by satellite MLS (Microwave Limb Sounder) has been used as a quality control procedure of the lidar product, attesting the absence of significant wet biases and validating the calibration procedure.Due to its performance and location, the MAIDO H 2 O lidar will become a reference instrument in the southern subtropics, insuring the long-term survey of the vertical distribution of water vapor. Furthermore, this system allows the investigation of several scientific themes, such as stratospheretroposphere exchange, tropospheric dynamics in the subtropics, and links between cirrus clouds and water vapor.

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First-Year Operation of a New Water Vapor Raman Lidar at the JPL Table Mountain Facility, California

Cited by 31 publications

References 11 publications

Validation of MIPAS IMK/IAA temperature, water vapor, and ozone profiles with MOHAVE-2009 campaign measurements

Validation of MIPAS IMK/IAA temperature, water vapor, and ozone profiles with MOHAVE-2009 campaign measurements

Ground-based water vapor raman lidar measurements up to the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere for long-term monitoring

Water vapor observations up to the lower stratosphere through the Raman lidar during the Maïdo Lidar Calibration Campaign

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