DIAL monitoring of atmospheric climate-determining gases employing high-power pulsed laser diodes

High-power pulsed laser diodes are employed for determining atmospheric humidity and methane. The proposed DIAL method optimizes the spectral properties of laser radiation within the molecular absorption bands of 0.86 - 0.9 μm of these major greenhouse gases. The explicit absorption spectrum is explored by computational convolution method based on reference data on spectral linestrengths modulated by the characteristic broad laser line of the selected laser diodes. The lidar scheme is ultimately compact, of low-energy consumption and suggests a large potential for ecological monitoring.