Abstract

Differential Absorption Lidars (DIAL) are being used since the early 1980’s to measure stratospheric ozone. They allow a routine, drift free, remote optical measurement of the ozone profile. Therefore they have been chosen as one component of the Network for the Detection of Stratospheric change (NDSC, [1]). Unfortunately, like many optical measurements, their precision is affected by the large amount of aerosols in the stratosphere after a major volcanic eruption. Because of this one has to be very careful when using lidar measurements of ozone together with measurements of stratospheric aerosols, although lidars have been used very successfully in the past to characterize the stratospheric aerosol layers following volcanic eruptions (e.g. [2, 3]).

© 1993 Optical Society of America