Simultaneous Measurement of Water Vapor, Temperature and Aerosol Backscatter with Diode-Laser-Based Lidar

The MicroPulse DIAL (MPD) system utilizes a diode-laser-based architecture to operate at two near-infrared wavelength regions, facilitating water vapor DIAL, High-Spectral-Resolution Lidar (HSRL), and oxygen DIAL techniques at. The instrument provides simultaneous measurement of absolute humidity, backscatter coefficient, and temperature at resolutions of 5 minutes and 37.5 meters with a typical range from 300 m to 5 km. This self-contained instrument provides standalone observations of atmospheric thermodynamics, eliminating the need for external calibration, ancillary data, or assumptions. Consequently, the MPD stands as one of the few fully self-sufficient thermodynamic profilers in existence. A novel statistical signal processing approach has emerged as pivotal in enhancing the accuracy of data products from the MPD. This processing capability facilitates comprehensive accounting for interdependencies within instrument data products while effectively mitigating the impact of shot noise through denoising techniques. This presentation will outline the new signal processing approach and show select results demonstrating its efficacy.