Abstract

The absorption spectrum of α-pinene gas, a biogenic volatile organic compound, was directly measured with a pulsed mid-infrared laser. The maximum absorption wavelength was found to be ∼3.42 µm, and an absorption cross section of 4.8 × 10^-23 m² molec^-1 was obtained. A simple theoretical calculation with the measured spectral data showed that several hundreds of parts in 10¹² (ppt) of α-pinene gas in forest–mountain areas over a range of ∼10 km were detectable by a long-path-averaged hard-target absorption lidar. Requirements for system development were also discussed.

© 2001 Optical Society of America

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