RAMSES: German Meteorological Service autonomous Raman lidar for water vapor, temperature, aerosol, and cloud...

Area of Science:

• Atmospheric Science
• Remote Sensing
• Spectroscopy

Background:

• Continuous atmospheric profiling is crucial for understanding weather and climate dynamics.
• Existing lidar systems face limitations in multiparameter measurements and operational flexibility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present the Raman lidar for atmospheric moisture sensing (RAMSES) system.
• To detail its capability for unattended, continuous multiparameter atmospheric profiling.
• To illustrate its measurement capabilities through multiday observations.

Main Methods:

• Utilizes a seeded frequency-tripled Nd:YAG laser as the light source.
• Employs two polychromators (9-channel for far-range, 3-channel for near-range) coupled to telescopes of different diameters.
• Measures water-vapor mixing ratio, temperature, and optical particle parameters (extinction, backscatter, lidar ratio, depolarization ratio) at 355 nm.

Main Results:

• Achieves water-vapor mixing ratio profiles from near-surface up to 14 km (night) and 5 km (day) in 20 minutes.
• Determines tropospheric and lower stratospheric temperature profiles using the rotational-Raman technique.
• Demonstrates robust calibration methods for depolarization ratio measurements.

Conclusions:

• The RAMSES system offers a compact, robust, and versatile solution for continuous atmospheric profiling.
• Its advanced optical design and data evaluation software enable near-real-time multiparameter measurements.
• The system effectively captures atmospheric dynamics over extended periods.