TROPOS Lidar in Haifa

Ground-based lidar measurements for the characterization of atmospheric particles

Dietrich Althausen and Holger Baars

Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research, Leipzig, Germany

The investigation on atmospheric particles (aerosols) and their interaction with clouds is the main research topic of the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) in Germany. Different aerosols from different sources are transported intercontinentally and thus worldwide measurements are necessary to determine their temporal, horizontal and vertical distribution, their optical and microphysical properties, and their influence on clouds and the global energy budget. The multiwavelength Raman and polarization lidar is an appropriate state of the art technique for continuous vertical aerosol measurements. At TROPOS, both hardware, and retrieval algorithms are developed for this application. In this talk we will introduce the optical remote sensing aerosol lidar technique and the quantities that are determined from aerosol lidar measurements. We will show, how certain retrieved parameters can be used to identify the observed particles in more detail. Examples of our worldwide measurement (e.g. PollyNET: http://polly.tropos.de) will be used to illustrate this approach. The talk will be finished with the plans of installing a multiwavelength Raman and polarization lidar in Israel for continuing measurements of the vertical aerosol distribution in Israel.