Two months of measurements with an autonomous thermodynamic Raman lidar in Lindenberg

Between 15 July 2020 and 19 September 2021, the Atmospheric Raman Temperature and Humidity Sounder (ARTHUS) collected data at the Lindenberg Observatory of the Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), including temperature and water vapor mixing ratio with a high temporal and range resolution.

During the operation period, very stable 24/7 operation was achieved, and ARTHUS demonstrated that is capable to observe the atmospheric boundary layer and lower free troposphere during both daytime and nighttime up to the turbulence scale, with high accuracy and precision, and very short latency. During nighttime, the measurement range increases even up to the tropopause and lower stratosphere.

ARTHUS measurements resolve the strength of the inversion layer at the planetary boundary layer top, elevated lids in the free troposphere, and turbulent fluctuations in water vapor and temperature, simultaneously (Lange et al., 2019, Wulfmeyer et al., 2015). In addition to thermodynamic variables, ARTHUS provides also independent profiles of the particle backscatter coefficient and the particle extinction coefficient from the rotational Raman signals at 355 nm with much better resolution than a conventional vibrational Raman lidar.

At the conference, highlights of the measurements will be presented. Furthermore, the statistics of more than 150 comparisons with local radiosondes will be presented which confirm the high accuracy of the temperature and moisture measurements of ARTHUS.

Acknowledgements

The development of ARTHUS was supported by the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers within the project Modular Observation Solutions for Earth Systems (MOSES). The measurements in Lindenberg were funded by DWD.

References

Lange, D., Behrendt, A., and Wulfmeyer, V. (2019). Compact operational tropospheric water vapor and temperature Raman lidar with turbulence resolution. Geophysical Research Letters, 46. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL085774

Wulfmeyer, V., R. M. Hardesty, D. D. Turner, A. Behrendt, M. P. Cadeddu, P. Di Girolamo, P. Schlüssel, J. Van Baelen, and F. Zus (2015), A review of the remote sensing of lower tropospheric thermodynamic profiles and its indispensable role for the understanding and the simulation of water and energy cycles, Rev. Geophys., 53,819–895, doi:10.1002/2014RG000476