Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Earth System Monitoring pp 35–61Cite as

Aircraft and Space Atmospheric Measurements Using Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL)

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

  • 2134 Accesses

Abstract

The study of the atmosphere has expanded greatly in the past decade due to concern about global climate change and air quality health effects. The natural atmospheric chemistry is complex but with anthropogenic emissions released into the atmosphere, the resulting complexity makes modeling very difficult. Chemical reactions generally increase with temperature and thus a warming climate may change the weather and climate in unpredictable ways. Also with increased regulations regarding air quality emissions, more attention is being directed toward atmospheric species measurements to assess the impact of specific emission regulations. As a result of these concerns, lidar has become a very valuable tool to directly measure the number density of specific atmospheric species as a function of altitude. This article will review the use of differential absorption lidar (DIAL) in current aircraft based missions and the potential for use of DIAL in orbiting spacecraft

This chapter was originally published as part of the Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology edited by Robert A. Meyers. DOI:10.1007/978-1-4419-0851-3

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Abbreviations

Absorption:

The process in which incident radiant energy is retained or absorbed by a gas.

Absorption coefficient:

The fraction of incident energy removed by absorption per unit length of travel of radiation through a gas.

Active remote sensing:

A remote sensing system that transmits its own energy source and measures atmospheric properties from the returned signal.

Aerosol:

A colloidal suspension of liquid or solid particles in air.

Aerosol extinction:

The reduction of optical energy passing through the atmosphere due to scattering and absorption of that energy.

Atmospheric boundary layer:

The bottom layer of the atmosphere that is in contact with the surface and is often turbulent with a capped stable layer of air or temperature inversion. The height is variable but is typically several kilometers during the day.

Depolarization ratio:

Defined as the ratio of the backscattered lidar power in the cross-polarization plane to the backscattered power in the polarization plane (transmitted laser beam) induced by the atmospheric constituents.

DIAL:

Differential absorption lidar is a lidar technique used to measure the atmospheric concentration of any gas as a function of altitude.

Extinction coefficient:

The fraction of incident radiant energy removed by extinction per unit of travel of radiation through the air.

In situ:

Methods for obtaining information about atmospheric properties through direct contact with the atmosphere as opposed to remote sensing.

Lidar:

Light Detection and Ranging is a technique for detecting and characterizing atmospheric properties using a pulsed laser.

Passive remote sensing:

A remote sensing technique that relies on the use of the Sun, Moon, or Earth surface as a radiation source to measure atmospheric gas species by absorption of that radiation as it passes through the atmosphere.

Polarization:

The property of light where the electric field vector is oriented in a single plane called plane polarization.

Primary trace atmospheric gas or particles:

Substances that are directly emitted into the atmosphere from the surface, vegetation, or natural or human activities such as fires, industrial processes, and car emissions.

Relative humidity:

The ratio of the vapor pressure of water to its saturation vapor pressure at the same temperature.

Scattering:

The process by which atmospheric gases are excited to radiate by an external source of light and the resultant light is usually detected in a direction not aligned with the light source.

Scattering coefficient:

The fraction of incident radiant energy removed by scattering per unit length of travel of radiation through the air.

Stratosphere:

The region of the atmosphere from the top of the troposphere to a height of 10–17 km (the base of the mesosphere).

Troposphere:

The region of the atmosphere from the Earth’s surface to the tropopause at 10–20 km, depending on latitude and season, where most weather occurs.

Bibliography

  1. Browell EV, Carter AF, Shipley ST, Allen RJ, Butler CF, Mayo MN, Siviter JH, Hall WM (1983) NASA multipurpose airborne DIAL system and measurements of ozone and aerosol profiles. Appl Optics 22:522–534

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Browell EV, Browell EV (1983) In: Killinger DK, Moorradian A, Killinger DK, Moorradian A (eds) Optical laser remote sensing. Springer, New York, pp 138–148

    Google Scholar 

  3. Bucholtz A (1995) Rayleigh scattering calculations for the terrestrial atmosphere. Appl Optics 34:2765–2773

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Williamson CK, De Young RJ (2000) Method for the reduction of signal-induced noise in photomultiplier tubes. Appl Optics 39:1973–1979

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Weitkamp C (2005) Lidar range resolved optical remote sensing of the atmosphere. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  6. Kovalev VA, Eichinger WE (2004) Elastic lidar. Wiley, New Jersey

    Book  Google Scholar 

  7. Browell EV (1989) Differential absorption lidar sensing of ozone. Proc IEEE 77:419–432

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Kuang S, Burris JF, Newchurch MJ, Johnson S, Long S (2010) Differential absorption lidar to measure subhourley variation of tropospheric ozone profiles. IEEE Trans Geo Remote Sensing 49:557–571

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. http://www.espo.nasa.gov/arctas/

  10. Flesia C, Mugnai A, Emery Y, Godin L, de Schoulepnikoff L, Mitev V (1994) Interpretation of lidar depolarization measurements of the Pinatubo stratospheric aerosol layer during EASOE. Geo Res Letts 21:1443–1446

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Schoulepnikoff L, Van Den Bergh H, Calpini B (1998) Tropospheric air pollution monitoring LIDAR. In: Myers RA (ed) Encyclopedia of environmental analysis and remediation. Wiley, New York, pp 4873–4909

    Google Scholar 

  12. Ismail S, Browell EV (1994) Recent lidar technology developments and their influence on measurements of tropospheric water vapor. J Atmos Oceanic Tech 11:76–84

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Ismail S (2011) GRIP Campaign data, private communication

    Google Scholar 

  14. Kooi S (2011) private communication

    Google Scholar 

  15. Winker DM, Couch RH, McCormick MP (1996) An overview of LITE: NASA lidar in-space technology experiment. Proc IEEE 84:164–179

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Farrell SL, Laxon SW, McAdoo DC, Yi D, Zwally HJ (2009) Five years of arctic sea ice freeboard measurements from the ice, cloud and land elevation satellite. J Geophys Res 114:C04008. doi:2008JC005074/2008JC005074

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Abdalati W, Zwally HJ, Bindschadler R, Csatho B, Farrell SL, Fricker HA, Harding D, Kwok R, Lefsky M, Markus T, Marshak A, Neumann T, Palm S, Schutz B, Smith B, Spinhirne J, Webb C (2010) The ICESat-2 laser altimetry mission. Proc IEEE 98:735–751

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Winker DM, Pelon J, Coakley JA, Ackerman SA, Charlson RJ, Colarco PR, Flamant P, Fu Q, Hoff RH, Kittaka C, Kubar TL, Le Treut H, McCormick MP, Megie G, Poole L, Powell K, Trepte C, Vaughan MA, Wielicki BA (2010) The CALIPSO mission a 3D view of aerosols and clouds. Bull Am Met Soc. doi:10.1175/2010BAMS3009.1

    Google Scholar 

  19. Vaughan MA (2011) NASA Langley Research Center, private communication

    Google Scholar 

  20. Clissold P (ed) (2008) ADM-Aeolus, SP-1311, ESA Communication Production Office, The Netherlands, ISBN 978-92-9221-404-3

    Google Scholar 

  21. Le Hors L, Toulemont Y, Heliere A (2008) Design and development of the backscatter lidar ATLID for EARTHCARE. In: International Conference on Space Optics, Toulouse, 14–17 Oct 2008

    Google Scholar 

  22. Barnes NP, Walsh BM, Reichle D, De Young RJ (2009) Tm:fiber lasers for remote sensing. Opt Mat. doi: 10.1016/j.optmat.2007.11.037, 31:1061-1064

    Google Scholar 

  23. De Young RJ, Barnes NP (2010) Profiling atmospheric water vapor using a fiber laser lidar system. Appl Optics 49:562–567

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  24. Browell EV (1995) Airborne lidar measurements. Rev Laser Eng 23:135–141

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Ball DJ, Dudelzak AE, Rheault F, Browell EV, Ismail S, Stadler JH, Hoff RM, McElroy CT, Allan I, Carswell CTA, Hahn JF, Ulitsky A (1998) ORACLE (ozone research with advanced cooperative lidar experiment): joint NASA-CSA development of a space-base ozone DIAL. Proc SPIE 3494:223–226. doi:10.1117/12.332422

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  26. Ismail S, Browell EV (1989) Airborne and spaceborne lidar measurements of water vapor profiles: a sensitivity analysis. Appl Optics 28:3603–3615

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  27. Wulfmeyer V, Bauer H, Girolammo D, Serio C (2005) Comparison of active and passive water vapor remote sensing from space: an analysis based on the simulated performance of IASI and space borne differential absorption lidar. Remote Sens Environ 95:211–230

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Ismail S, Peterson LD, Hinkle JD (2005) Applications of deployable telescopes for earth-observing lidar. In: Proceedings of the ESTO earth science technology conference, College Park, 27–28 June 2005

    Google Scholar 

  29. Chin M, Kahn RA, Schwartz SE (eds) (2009) CCSP 2009: atmospheric aerosol properties and climate impacts, Report by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC, 128 pp

    Google Scholar 

  30. Monks PS, Granier C, Fuzzi S, Stohl A, Williams ML, Akimoto H, Amanni M et al (2009) Atmospheric composition change – global and regional air quality. Atmos Environ 43:5268–5350

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Browell EV, Ismail S, Grant WB (1989) Differential absorption lidar (DIAL) measurements from air and space. Appl Phys B 67:399–410

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  32. Real E, Law KS, Weinzierl B, Fiebig M, Petzold A, Wild O, Methven J, Arnold S, Stohl A, Huntrieser H, Roiger A, Schlager H, Stewart D, Avery M, Sachse G, Browell E, Ferrare R, Blake D (2007) Processes influencing ozone levels in Alaskan forest fire plumes during long-range transport over the North Atlantic. J Geo Res 112:D10S41. doi:10.1029/2006JD007576

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Laj P, Klausen J, Bilde M, Pla-Duelmer C, Pappalardo G, Clerbaux C, Baltensperger U et al (2009) Measuring atmospheric composition change. Atmos Envir 43:5351–5414

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Ismail S, Gervin J, Wood HJ, Peri F (2004) Remote sensing of tropospheric chemistry using lidars from geostationary orbit. Proc SPIE 5659:146–154

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  35. World Meteorological Organization (2007) WMO global atmospheric watch strategic plan: 2008–2015. Report 172

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. NASA Langley Research Center, 401A, Hampton, VA, 23681-0001, USA

    Russell De Young

Authors
  1. Russell De Young
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Russell De Young .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Scripps Insitution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, Gilman Drive 9500, La Jolla, 92093, California, USA

    John Orcutt

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

De Young, R. (2013). Aircraft and Space Atmospheric Measurements Using Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL). In: Orcutt, J. (eds) Earth System Monitoring. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5684-1_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5684-1_3

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-5683-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-5684-1

  • eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation