ARM MPL corrections derived from NASA HSRL overflights during ISDAC

The Arctic is among the most climatologically sensitive regions in the world but due to the remoteness and extreme environmental conditions it is also among the most sparsely instrumented and measured climate regimes. In conjunction with the International Polar Year, three major field campaigns were conducted over Barrow and the north slope of Alaska in April 2008: the Indirect and Semi-Direct Aerosol Campaign (ISDAC by DOE/ACRF), the Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS by NASA), and the Aerosol Radiation and Cloud Processes affecting the Arctic Climate (ARCPAC by NOAA).

These airborne campaigns included numerous flights directly over the ACRF site in Barrow Alaska affording multiple opportunities for intercomparison and cross-validation.

ARM operated a polarization-sensitive Micropulse Lidar (MPL) at the ACRF NSA site in Barrow. The MPL profiles typically incorporate near-field corrections that are difficult to validate operationally. Direct comparison of the ARM MPL and the downward-pointing HSRL aboard NASA's King Air at a ranges where the HSRL is unaffected by overlap provides a means for operationally determining the MPL near-field overlap correction. We present MPL profiles before and after application of this operationally-derived correction. In addition, we show comparisons between MPL and HSRL profiles of attenuated backscatter, aerosol extinction, and volume depolarization ratio.