Hampton University 48-inch Mie and Raman lidar system

The Department of Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences' (DAPS) 48-inch lidar system has been used to measure tropospheric and stratospheric aerosol backscatter/extinction coefficients, and to measure the bottom and top altitudes of cirrus clouds using atmospheric laser firings at the wavelengths of 0.355, 0.532, and 1.064 µm. These measurements are being used as correlative measurements for the CALIPSO Spacecraft lidar backscatter measurements at 0.532 µm and 1.064 µm. Recently, the lidar was upgraded to obtain vibrational Raman backscattering measurements of tropospheric water vapor mixing ratios with two additional detectors at 0.4075 and 0.3867 µm. Preliminary measurements indicate that the lidar can provide useful water vapor mixing ratios to about 12 km at night and 4 km during daytime. This paper will provide an overview of the lidar system as well as present examples of elastic backscatter measurements of aerosols and clouds, and Raman water vapor mixing ratio profiles compared to nearby balloonsonde measurements.