Design of a new DIAL system for tropospheric and lower stratospheric ozonemonitoring in Northern Greece

An improved ozone Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) system has been desi gned for tropospheric and lower stratospheric ozone monitoring in Northern Greece. The system is based on a frequency quadrupled pulsed Nd:YAG laser a nd the Raman shifting technique in D-2 and H-2 gases. The lidar system emit s simultaneously 4 wavelengths (266 nm, 289 nm, 299 nm and 316 nm) at 10 Hz repetition rate using a single low pressure Raman cell. The optical receiv ing system is based on a 50 cm concave telescope which is directly coupled to a specially conceived grating spectrometer. This lidar system uses analo g (12 bits-40 MHz) and photon counting (250 MHz) detection systems, able to measure lidar signals up 16 km height. Ozone vertical profiles are to be m easured from 0.8 km up to 15 km height, with a 30-500 m spatial and a 1-min ute temporal resolution. In this paper the major technical characteristics of the improved lidar system are presented. The system is foreseen to provi de the first daytime/nighttime ozone vertical profiles during early winter 1999. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.