RLPROF

The Raman lidar automatically attempts to reoptimize the position of the laser beam in the detector’s field of view every few hours (this is required for most narrow-field-of-view lidar systems). However, this can introduce alignment artifacts in the narrow-field-of-view data due to the way the detection channels are arranged on the optical bench. A suite of VAPs have been developed to reduce or remove any artifacts introduced in the narrow-field-of-view data by these automatic self-alignment “tweaks.” For more details, see each VAP process web page of the Raman Lidar Profiles:

• Aerosol Scattering Ratio,
• Best Estimate Product,
• Depolarization Ratio,
• Aerosol Extinction,
• Mixing Ratio and Merge.

For more information about the Raman Lidar Profiles Best Estimate VAP (RLPROFBE), see the VAP report. For more information about the Raman Lidar Profiles Merge (RLPROFMERGE) VAP that is used as input to all the Raman Lidar Profiles VAPs, please see this report. For more information about the Raman Lidar Water Vapor Mixing Ratio and Temperature VAPs, see this report.

• Aerosol extinction
• Aerosol optical depth
• Aerosol scattering
• Atmospheric moisture
• Backscatter depolarization ratio
• Backscattered radiation