AGS-CIF: Multi-function Airborne Raman Lidar (MARLi) and Airborne Doppler Lidar (ADL) for Water Vapor, Temperature, Wind, Aerosol/Cloud Profiling

The Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences (AGS) operates the Community Instruments and Facilities (CIF) program to enhance the scientific community’s access to instrumentation that is otherwise too costly or complicated to operate for most institutions. This award is for the inclusion of the Multi-function Airborne Raman Lidar (MARLi) and Airborne Doppler Lidar (ADL) into the CIF cohort of available instrumentation.

MARLi and ADL, when combined, can provide simultaneous water vapor, temperature, wind, aerosol, and cloud profiles within the layer of the atmosphere closest to the surface. Measurements of the planetary boundary layer (PBL) are key to understanding the processes that drive societally important weather phenomena, like hazardous weather and air quality.

The use of MARLi and ADL as a CIF will also lead to public outreach activities and enhanced education and training through the expanded use of these systems.

MARLi is a Raman lidar which can provide simultaneous water vapor, temperature, aerosol, and cloud profiles. ADL is a Doppler lidar which can provide high temporally and spatially resolved wind measurements. MARLi and ADL were designed to operate on research aircraft, such as the NSF/NCAR C-130 and the Wyoming King Air but can also be used on the ground as part of the Planetary Boundary Layer Moving Active Profiling System (PBLMAPS).

Research activities that can be enabled by MARLi and ADL observations include advancing our understanding of small-scale interactions between clouds and their environment, investigating air-sea and air-land interactions, documenting boundary layer structure over heterogeneous surfaces and under cloudy conditions, examining the mesoscale atmospheric environments and dynamics, and characterizing urban PBL.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.