Automated backscatter lidar for PBL and troposphere measurements: experience from one-year operation

We report a summary of the experience and results from one-year unattended operation of an automatic backscatter lidar. The backscatter lidar is realized for measurements at altitudes of Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) and the troposphere. Such lidar has been developed and tested to answer the necessity for operation at remote sites an/or during atmospheric measurement campaigns. The results are from one year of urban boundary layer height measurements in the city of Basel (Switzerland). During this one-year of operation the lidar was remotely controlled via Internet, including also the data transfer. Here we present examples of lidar measurements of diurnal cycles of the urban boundary layer development and its height. We also present cases of lidar measurements performed in clear and cloudy sky, where the lidar observations are compared with the visual control of the sky documented by automatic camera. The results and the experience are discussed in view of the application of such automatic lidar for long-term operation as part of aerosol lidar network.