Abstract
We present measurements of water vapor using a Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) system mounted downward looking on board a meteorological research aircraft. Flight tracks flown in 1.5 - 3 km above ground show the height and entrainment structure of the atmospheric boundary layer top. Cross sections of water vapor can be used to study for example land-sea interactions or the structure of thermals in a convective boundary layer. Applying spectral and autocorrelation analyses across horizontal DIAL water vapor series gives insight into the turbulent structure of the atmosphere. Vertical fluxes of humidity at the top of the boundary layer can be estimated from the DIAL variance water vapor profiles using a set of empirically derived equations. Such measurements are of high climatological interest, since they enable to evaluate and monitor evaporation and biosphere-atmosphere exchange processes.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 127-134 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering |
| Volume | 3104 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1997 |
| Event | Lidar Atmospheric Monitoring - Munich, Germany Duration: Jun 16 1997 → Jun 18 1997 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Computer Science Applications
- Applied Mathematics
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering