Researchers have developed a laser-based system that can be used for airborne measurement of important atmospheric gases with unprecedented accuracy and resolution.
Researchers have developed a laser-based system that can be used for airborne measurement of important atmospheric gases with unprecedented accuracy and resolution. The ability to collect this data will help scientists better understand how these atmospheric gases affect the climate and could help improve climate change predictions.
In the Optical Society journal Applied Optics, researchers from Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR) — Germany’s national center for aerospace, energy and transportation research — describe how their lidar instrument was used aboard an aircraft to acquire the first simultaneous measurements of the vertical structure of water vapor and ozone in the tropopause region of the atmosphere. The researchers say that the new system might even be useful for monitoring atmospheric gases from space.
The tropopause separates the surface-based troposphere layer where weather takes place from the overlying stratosphere that contains the ozone layer that protects life on Earth from harmful radiation. Scientists want to study water vapor and ozone in the tropopause because the distribution of these atmospheric gases in this layer plays a crucial role in the Earth’s climate.
“The ability to detect the vertical structure of water vapor and ozone is critical for understanding the exchange of these atmospheric gases between the troposphere and the stratosphere,” said Andreas Fix, who led the research team. “These measurements could help us identify errors and uncertainties in climate models that would help improve predictions of the future climate, which is one of the central challenges for our society and economy.”
Read more at: The Optical Society
Researchers developed a new lidar system that was used aboard the German research aircraft HALO (High Altitude and Long-Range Research Aircraft) to acquire the first simultaneous measurements of the vertical structure of water vapor and ozone in the tropopause region of the atmosphere. (Photo Credit: DLR)
