Lidar and DOAS remote sensing for pollution monitoring in the Washington, D.C., area during August/September 1992

As a result of the development of a new air pollution measurement capability, we present observations of air pollution parameters in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. area for the months of August and September 1992, requested by the Air and Radiation Management Administration, State of Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE). The measured parameters are (1) the height of the atmospheric boundary layer (BL) as determined by lidar (laser backscatter by aerosols) and (2) the concentration of the major gaseous pollutants (O3, SO2, and NO2) as determined by long-path differential optical absorption spectroscopy. Selected results are presented in pictorial, graphical, and tabular forms, and are compared with each other and with observations taken with other pollutant and meteorological instruments operating in the same region and time period. Complete data have been provided to the MDE for Urban Airshed Model calculations. Early results are promising on correlations between BL parameters and pollutant concentration; this relatively recent study is still underway.