A new eye-safe lidar design for studying atmospheric aerosol distributions

This paper presents the design, eye-safe characteristics, and performance of a new eye-safe infrared lidar system for studying city fog. It includes a compact infrared (1574 nm) transmitter, a telescope receiver, and a computer to acquire, store, and process and analyze the measurement data. The development of such a system makes it possible for routine aerosol monitoring in a populated area using lidar technology. A simulation study and a field test show that the system was capable of aerosol monitoring in cities. This lidar system will be used to study the distribution of aerosol over an urban area of 100-200 km(2) and will be useful for routine multidimensional aerosol measurements with high resolution in an urban environment.