High-resolution lidar system for measuring the spatial and temporal structure of the mesospheric sodium layerThe design of a high-resolution tunable-dye laser-based lidar system for the study of the mesospheric sodium layer is presented and results of sodium measurements are indicated. The lidar system comprises a tunable flashlamp-pumped dye laser operating at the sodium D2 resonance line at 589.0 nm with a pulse width of 2 microsec FWHM and pulse frequency of 10 Hz and a telescope with a 1.22=m diameter Fresnel lens. Sodium profiles are obtained from the integration of 100 to 250 laser shots, with spatial and temporal resolution enhanced by two-dimensional filtering techniques. Measurements obtained over a 9-hour nighttime period illustrate the highly dynamic nature of the sodium layer, which was observed with a spatial resolution of 2 km and temporal resolution of 30 min. Observations made with a steerable apparatus have confirmed a presunrise enhancement of over 100 percent in sodium column abundance.
Document ID
19830066573
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Authors
Gardner, C. S. (Illinois Univ. Urbana, IL, United States)
Sechrist, C. F., Jr. (Illinois Univ. Urbana, IL, United States)
Shelton, J. D. (Illinois, University Urbana, IL, United States)