Lidar Studies of the Arctic Stratosphere (Invited Presentation)

A Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) system has been operated every winter since January 1992 at Eureka in the Canadian High Arctic. The lidar is based on a XeCl laser with hydrogen Raman shifter to provide outputs at 308 and 353 nm. A 1- meter telescope collects the elastic backscattered radiation at these wavelengths as well as the Raman scattering from atmospheric nitrogen and water vapour. The system is used to measure stratospheric ozone, using both the Rayleigh and nitrogen Raman scattering, aerosols, temperature and water vapour. Measurements are typically made from November to March each winter. The seeing at the Eureka site has proven to be excellent and the data collected for the last seven winters have provided new and detailed information on the properties of the polar atmosphere. This paper provides an overview of results obtained to date.