Abstract

Interest in remote measurements of atmospheric gases has gained increased emphasis in recent years because of the need to assess the impact of man's activity on his environment. It has been recognized that knowledge of the sources, sinks, transport, and chemistry of atmospheric species must be obtained over large scales to understand the balance between natural and anthropogenic processes. An example of this is the debate over the relative importance of transport of O₃ from the stratosphere into the troposphere compared to the production of O₃ in the troposphere resulting from anthropogenic activity. This type of investigation requires the use of advanced remote sensing technology. The Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) technique is the most versatile of the remote sensing techniques for the measurement of gas concentration profiles with high spatial resolution at ranges of several kilometers or more.

© 1983 Optical Society of America