Recovery and validation of wind and aerosol profiles from incoherent Doppler lidar measurements

n incoherent Doppler lidar system has been developed at the Space Physics Research Laboratory at the University of Michigan to provide simultaneous measurements of wind and aerosol backscatter profiles throughout the atmospheric boundary layer. The lidar utilizes Fabry-Perot interferometers to filter background sunlight and to achieve the required spectral resolution. This lidar system is capable of uninterrupted daytime and nighttime operation and provides profiles with 100-meter vertical resolution and 6-minute temporal resolution. Development of the physical instrument is described, with emphasis on Fabry-Perot interferometers and their use.;Spectra measured with this lidar contain three separate pieces of information: wind (Doppler shift), aerosol backscatter, and molecular backscatter. It will be shown that these three components of the return signal are functionally independent. This orthogonality will be exploited in developing a non-linear least-squares fitting method to extract all three components from the measured spectra. Results from use of this fitting method are shown.;Because multiple Fabry-Perot interferometers are used, it is important to maintain resonance between the two interferometers. If the two interferometers are not in resonance, the spectral shape can become distorted, which can bias determinations of the Doppler shift. A fourth parameter can be added to the fitting algorithm to account for the effect of a wavelength offset between the peak transmissions of the two interferometers. Results obtained using this four-parameter fitting method are also shown.;Examples of measured wind and aerosol backscatter profiles are examined. To validate the fitting technique and the incoherent lidar method, a rawinsonde system was co-located with the lidar. A comparison of the wind profiles shows a rms error of...