LIDAR STUDIES OF PARTICLES AND TEMPERATURES OF THE ATMOSPHERE - FIRSTRESULTS FROM NATIONAL-CENTRAL-UNIVERSITY LIDAR

With a Rayleigh and Mie scattering lidar, installed at the Central Uni versity in Chung-Li, Taiwan (25 degrees N, 121 degrees E), we studied the high clouds, aerosols, and temperatures of the atmosphere in the 1 5-60 km region since July, 1993. High clouds located near the tropopau se were observed consistently. The clouds had stable structure and per sisted for hours. One of the clouds presented had a height of 15.6 km and a thickness of 613 m. They were probably grown in the extremely co ld environment of the tropical tropopause. The stratospheric aerosol l ayer has been found with structure which is caused by the dynamics of the tropical winds. Temperature measurements derived from Rayleigh sca ttering in the range 30-60 km have provided the temperature and height for the stratopause. The effect of temperature fluctuation on the che mical species is discussed.