MULTIPLE FABRY-PEROT INTERFEROMETERS IN AN INCOHERENT DOPPLER LIDAR

A high-resolution incoherent-detection Doppler lidar has been construc ted at the University of Michigan Space Physics Research Laboratory. T he lidar uses multiple Fabry-Perot interferometers to measure the Dopp ler shift of aerosol-backscattered light and to attenuate background l ight. In this way, vertical profiles of the horizontal wind field are obtained with high spatial and temporal resolution. It has been found that if the transmission functions of the etalons are not properly ali gned, a systematic error in the Doppler-shift determination can result . This error is dependent on the relative aerosol loading of the atmos phere and can be quite targe. For large etalon offsets the wind error can be in excess of 10 m/s. Even for small offsets and high aerosol lo adings, the wind determination can be biased by as much as 1 m/s. A pr eviously developed model and inversion process can be modified to allo w for an offset between the etalons and recover data without bias. (C) 1997 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.