A pulsed coherent CO2 lidar for boundary-layer meteorology

The design and experimental characterization of a compact CO2 pulsed Dopple r lidar for boundary-layer meteorology are described. Examples of the predi cted and demonstrated performance of the system with respect to signal-to-n oise ratio and Doppler measurement accuracy are presented. An experimental dataset from the lidar is analysed with different signal processing paramet ers in order to elucidate the effects of accumulating different numbers of successive lidar pulses and varying the length of the range gate. Typical s ystem parameters are shown to be a range capability of between 3 and 4 km ( dependent upon atmospheric conditions) and a velocity accuracy of less than or equal to 0.5 m s(-1) with 112 m range gates.