OASIS 1.0: Very Large-Aperture High-Power Lidar for Exploring Geospace

Abstract:

A new initiative, namely OASIS (the Observatory for Atmosphere Space Interaction Studies), has called for a very large-aperture high-power (VLAHP) lidar as its first step forward to acquire the unprecedented measurement capabilities for exploring the space-atmosphere interaction region (SAIR). Currently, there exists a serious observational gap of the Earth’s neutral atmosphere above 100 km. Information on neutral winds and temperatures and on the plasma-neutral coupling in the SAIR, especially between 100 and 200 km, is either sparse or nonexistent. Fully exploring the SAIR requires measurements of the neutral atmosphere to complement radar observations of the plasma. Lidar measurements of neutral winds, temperatures and species can enable these explorations. Many of these topics will be addressed with the VLAHP lidar.

Discoveries of thermospheric neutral Fe, Na and K layers up to nearly 200 km at McMurdo, Antarctica and other locations on Earth, have opened a new door to observing the neutral thermosphere with ground-based instruments. These neutral metal layers provide the tracers for resonance Doppler lidars to directly measure the neutral temperatures and winds in the thermosphere, thus enabling the VLAHP lidar dream! Because the thermospheric densities of these metal atoms are many times smaller than the layer peak densities near 90 km, high power-aperture product lidars, like the VLAHP lidar, are required to derive scientifically useful measurements. Furthermore, several key technical challenges for VLAHP lidar have been largely resolved in the last a few years through the successful development of Fe and Na Doppler lidars at Boulder. By combining Rayleigh and Raman with resonance lidar techniques and strategically operating the VLAHP lidar next to incoherent scatter radar and other complementary instruments, the VLAHP lidar will enable new cutting-edge exploration of the geospace. These new concepts and progresses will be introduced in this paper.