Temperature profiling in the atmosphere using lidars

This lecture describes the development of lidar techniques to measure the atmospheric temperature profile. Particular attention is given in the lecture to the technique that uses pure rotational Raman scattering of light by molecular nitrogen and oxygen. At present, this approach to temperature profiling in the atmosphere with lidars has received a new impulse because of recent advances in laser and optoelectronics technologies. The instrumentation aspects that determine the feasibility of one or another lidar technique to measure temperature profiles based on the pure rotational Raman spectrum (PRRS) of N2 and O2 molecules are considered. The primary instrumental problem is isolation of extremely weak Raman-lidar returns within the PRRS of N2 and O2 against the background from the much stronger line of unshifted scattering. Mie + Rayleigh, that simultaneously contributes to lidar returns. Besides, the daytime sky background is the factor that severely hampers daytime lidar measurements especially in the case with Raman lidars. So it is an important task of Raman-lidar technologists to find proper ways to overcome this difficulty that would made it possible the temperature profiling in the atmosphere to be performed whole day round. The approach to achieving this task by use of a Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) is discussed in the lecture.