Year-round sensing optical properties of the atmosphere by a micropulse lidar in Tomsk

Abstract : A site for year-round monitoring of the atmospheric parameters by means of a lidar was installed in Tomsk in the frameworks of the Russian-French cooperation between the Institute of Atmospheric Optics and the LATMOS (Sorbonne Université) Laboratory, under the CNES EECLAT European project. For this purpose, a CE-372NP micropulse lidar at the wavelength of 808 nm was designed in the French company CIMEL Electronique under the project of the LATMOS staff. It is capable of carrying out eye-safe continuous sounding of the atmosphere in almost any climatic conditions in an automated mode. The main purpose of this installation is to obtain long-term series of altitude profiles of backscattered radiation from the aerosol component of the lower troposphere in order to obtain information on the height of the atmospheric boundary layer, retrieval of its optical thickness and lidar ratio in combination with the CIMEL CE-318 sunphotometer data. An intercomparison was made between the lidar CE-372NP of CIMEL and the stationary lidar LOSA-S of the Institute of Atmospheric Optics. For long-term continuous measurements of atmospheric parameters, lidar was installed on the territory of the Observatory “Fonovaya” of the IAO SB RAS, which is located in the background area of the Tomsk Region.