Air Quality Campaign Results from the Langley Mobile Ozone Lidar

Abstract:

A compact differential absorption ozone lidar (DIAL) system has been developed called the Langley Mobile Ozone Lidar (L-MOL) which can provide ozone, aerosol and cloud atmospheric profiles from a mobile trailer for ground-based atmospheric air quality campaigns. This lidar is integrated into the Tropospheric Ozone Lidar Network (TOLNet) currently made up of four other ozone lidars, three of which are mobile, across the country. The laser transmitter consist of a Coherent Evolution 30 TEM₀₀ 1-kHz diode pumped Q-switched Nd:YLF inter-cavity doubled laser pumping a Ce:LiCAF tunable UV laser. The transmitter transmits ~60 mW at two wavelengths between 280 and 293-nm for ozone and 2.5-W at 527-nm for aerosol profiling. The lidar operates at 1-kHz with 500-Hz at each 0f two UV wavelength. A fiber coupled 40-cm diameter parabolic telescope collets the backscattered return and records analog and photon counting signals. A separate 30-cm diameter telescope collects very near field returns for ozone profiles close to the surface. The lidar is capable of recording ozone profiles from 100-500-m with the very near field telescope and from 800-m to approximately 6000-m with the far field channel depending on sky background conditions.

The system has been configured to enable mobile operation from a trailer which is environmentally controlled, and is towed with a truck with the objective to make the system mobile such that it can be setup at remote sites to support air quality field campaigns such as the July-August 2014 Denver, CO DISCOVER_AQ campaign.

Before the lidar was deployed in the DISCOVER-AQ campaign the lidar operated for 15 hours at NASA Langley in Hampton, VA to test the ability of the system to accurately record ozone profiles. The figure below shows the results of that test. Six ozonesondes were launched during this period and show reasonable agreement with the ozone (ppbv) curtain plot. Ozone of stratospheric origin at 4-14 UTC was noted as well as local ozone production at 18 UTC. The system was then deployed in the DISCOVER-AQ campaign at South Table Mountain in Golden, CO.  Results from that campaign will be presented.