HR: 08:00h
AN: A41E-01 INVITED    [Abstracts]
TI: Tropospheric layers and LASE measurements for atmospheric process studies
AU: * Ismail, S
EM: Syed.Ismail-1@nasa.gov
AF: NASA Langley Research Center, MS 401A, Hampton, VA 23681, United States
AU: Browell, E V
EM: e.v.browell@larc.nasa
AF: NASA Langley Research Center, MS 401A, Hampton, VA 23681, United States
AU: Ferrare, R
EM: r.ferrare@larc.nasa.gov
AF: NASA Langley Research Center, MS 401A, Hampton, VA 23681, United States
AB: The Measurement of Ozone and Water Vapor by Airbus In-Service Aircraft (MOZAIC) program has provided extensive data about the distribution of ozone and water vapor in the troposphere. Analyses of these data by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have revealed the ubiquity of layers of ozone and water vapor in the troposphere. Measurements by other remote and in situ sensors have confirmed the frequent presence of many layers in the troposphere. Measurements of the location and composition of these layers can be used to study the origin and transport of the layers as well as the dynamical and chemical processes associated with these layers. Lidar systems are ideally suited to study structural information in the atmosphere. Differential absorption lidar (DIAL) systems are capable of providing simultaneous profiles of aerosol and atmospheric gas species for studying these processes. The Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment (LASE) is an airborne DIAL system that is capable of providing high resolution profiles of water vapor and aerosols, and cloud distributions over the entire troposphere. LASE system has been used in 11 field experiments over the past 12 years to study atmospheric boundary layer development, convection, storm development, Saharan dust layers, anthropogenic pollution, cirrus clouds, stratosphere-troposphere exchange, and for comparing water vapor measurements from other remote and in situ sensors. Data obtained from these field experiments have been used to study boundary layer dynamics and derive entrainment fluxes; convection initiation; influences of water vapor distributions on hurricane development; optical properties of pollution and dust layers and their humidification; relative humidity associated with cirrus; and many transport and dynamical processes. Examples of some of these data will be presented in this talk along with a discussion of their association with the atmospheric processes.
DE: 0319 Cloud optics
DE: 0365 Troposphere: composition and chemistry
DE: 1855 Remote sensing (1640)
DE: 3307 Boundary layer processes
DE: 3311 Clouds and aerosols
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting