Abstract

Three lidar systems maintained by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Environmental Research Laboratories in Boulder, Colorado, have been used to observe the stratospheric aerosol from the Mt. Pinatubo eruption. The Wave Propagation Laboratory (WPL) operates two of these systems: a CO₂ Doppler lidar employing coherent detection operating at 10.59 μm [Post and Cupp, 1990], and a ruby lidar operating at 0.695 μm [Eberhard and McNice, 1986]. The Aeronomy Laboratory (AL) operates an ozone DIAL system employing a Nd:YAG-pumped dye laser that can be configured to measure aerosol and molecular backscatter at 0.610, 0.537, 0.532, or 0.305 μm [Profitt and Langford, 1991]. The ruby lidar is located on the National Institute for Science and Technology complex in Boulder, Colorado. The CO₂ system is located on table mountain 17 km north of the ruby lidar, and the AL lidar is located on Fritz peak, 35 km southwest of the ruby system.

© 1991 Optical Society of America