A Multifunctional Fiber Laser Lidar for Measuring Atmospheric CO2 and O2

Jeremy Todd Dobler, ITT Space Systems Division, LLC, jeremy.dobler@itt.com (Presenter)
James Nagel, The Univeristy of Arizona/TIPD LLC., jnagel@optics.arizona.edu
Valery L. Temyanko, The Univeristy of Arizona/TIPD LLC., vtemyanko@optics.arizona.edu
T. Scott Zaccheo, Atmospheric and Environmental Research Inc, szaccheo@aer.com
Edward V. Browell, NASA Langley Research Center, edward.v.browell@nasa.gov
Fenton Wallace Harrison, NASA Langley Research Center, fenton.w.harrison@nasa.gov
Susan A. Kooi, SSAI, susan.a.kooi@nasa.gov
Marta A. Fenn, SSAI, marta.a.fenn@nasa.gov
Yonghoon Choi, NIA, yonghoon.choi-1@nasa.gov
Stephanie A. Vay, NASA LaRC, stephanie.a.vay@nasa.gov

ITT Geospatial Systems has been developing a multi-functional fiber laser lidar (MFLL) for altimetry and high precision laser absorption spectroscopy (LAS) of atmospheric CO2 since 2004. The instrument utilizes a unique intensity modulated (IM) continuous wave (CW) measurement technique, allowing simultaneous transmission and collection of multiple wavelengths which are separated through an all digital lockin approach. The CO2 and altimeter components of the MFLL prototype have been extensively evaluated through 11 different flight campaigns using 3 different aircraft which include more than 70 individual flights conducted over an extensive range of atmospheric and surface conditions. These evaluations have been conducted in collaboration with our partners at NASA Langley Research Center and Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc. Airborne data acquired by MFLL show an absolute agreement of <0.9 +/- 3.2 ppmv in comparison to simultaneous in-situ CO2 measurements referenced to the WMO primary CO2 scale. To the best of our knowledge, this represents the only airborne remote CO2 measurement technique that has demonstrated this precision and accuracy to date.

Many recent upgrades to the airborne instrument have been made including: 1) Increased system bandwidth, 2) hybrid modulation techniques for discriminating against thin cloud interference, and 3) the addition of a 1262.5 nm transmitter for measurements of atmospheric O2.

This poster will discuss the overall design concept of the MFLL architecture, recent modeling and implementation of thin cloud rejection algorithms, flight results from summer 2011 on the NASA UC-12 and DC-8 aircraft, and details on the O2 component development and evaluation.



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Presentation: 2011_Poster_Dobler_154_175.pdf (264k)

Presentation Type:  Poster

Session:  Other   (Tue 11:30 AM)

Associated Project(s): 

• Related Activity

Poster Location ID: 154