Monitoring O3 with solar-blind Raman lidars

The benefits of retrieving ozone concentration profiles by a use of a single Raman signal rather than the Raman differential absorption lidar (DIAL) technique are investigated by numerical simulations applied either to KrF- (248 nm) or to quadrupled Nd:YAG- (266 nm) based Raman lidars, which are used for both daytime and nighttime monitoring of the tropospheric water-vapor mixing ratio. It is demonstrated that ozone concentration profiles of adequate accuracy and spatial and temporal resolution can be retrieved under low aerosol loading by a single Raman lidar because of the large value of the ozone absorption cross section both at 248 nm and at 266 nm. Then experimental measurements of Raman signals provided by the KrF-based lidar operating at the University of Lecce (40 degrees 20'N, 18 degrees 6'E) are used to retrieve ozone concentration profiles by use of the Raman DIAL technique and the nitrogen Raman signal.