"RLPROF" VAP Process
Instrument Categories: Aerosols, Atmospheric Profiling, Derived Quantities and Models
Description: Raman LIDAR Vertical Profiles
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 details about the Raman Lidar preliminary quicklook images, see the calendar.
Value-Added Products (VAPs) Produced
- 10rlprofasr1ferr - Raman Lidar (RL): aerosol scattering ratio and backscattering coefficient profiles
- 10rlprofbe1turn - Raman LIDAR (RL): Best-estimate state of the atmos. profiles from RL & AERI+GOES retrievals
- 10rlprofdep1turn - Raman LIDAR (RL): depolarization profiles and single layer cloud optical depths
- 10rlprofext1ferr - Raman LIDAR (RL): aerosol extinction profiles and aerosol optical thickness
- 10rlprofmr1turn - Raman LIDAR (RL): water vapor mixing ratio and relative humidity profiles, along with PWV
- rlprofmerge1turn - Merged analog and photon counting profiles used as input for other RLPROF VAPs
Primary Measurements
The following measurements are those considered scientifically relevant. Refer to the datastream (netcdf) file headers for the list of all available measurements, including those recorded for diagnostic or quality assurance purposes.
- Aerosol extinction
- Aerosol scattering
- Atmospheric moisture
- Backscatter depolarization ratio
- Backscattered radiation
- Cloud liquid water
- Cloud base height
- Cloud top height
- Optical depth
- Precipitable water
Sites / Facilities
Note: Click the "" to expand/collapse the list.
- Southern Great Plains (SGP)
- Central Facility, Lamont, OK (C1)