LIDAR RESEARCHER:
Dr. Raymond M. Hoff

RESEARCH ASSOCIATES:
Dr. Kevin McCann
Ruben Delgado
Patricia Sawamura

MAILING ADDRESS:
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Physics Department
1000 Hilltop Circle
Baltimore, MD 21250

TELEPHONE NUMBER:  410-455-1610, 1942, 1943

FAX NUMBER:  410-455-1291

E-MAIL ADDRESS:  hoff@umbc.edu: 

DATE:  2008

LIDAR LOCATION (CITY, COUNTRY, LAT., LONG.):
Catonsville, MD (39.25455°N, -79.7094°W)

SITE ELEVATION:  81 m AGL

PARAMETER(S) OR CONSTITUENT(S) MEASURED: 532 and 1064 nm Aerosol Elastic Backscatter, 532 nm Depolarization and 1064/532 Color Ratio, 532 nm Extinction and Aerosol Optical Depth. Planetary Boundary Layer Height and Dynamics.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND SPONSOR:  Integration of the ground-based lidar products with satellite remote sensing instruments such as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS), the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-11, 12), and the Cloud and Aerosol Lidar for Pathfinder Spaceborne Observations (CALIPSO) to develop a 3-D view of pollutants over the region. Results obtained contribute to atmospheric modeling and satellite efforts in the understanding of regional pollution dynamics for state and federal agencies such as NASA, NOAA, EPA and the Maryland Department of the Environment.  

MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUE: Elastic backscatter lidar

MEASUREMENT RANGE:  500 m to 60 km

VERTICAL RESOLUTION:  15m, 30m and 75m (programmable)

FREQ. OF MEASUREMENT (TYPICALLY):  24/7/365

MEASUREMENT TIMES (TYPICALLY):  24/7/365

LASER TYPE AND WAVELENGTH (s):  Nd:YLF @ 527nm

LASER ENERGY/PULSE:  6-8 mJ

PULSE REPETITION RATE:  2500 Hz

RECEIVER SIZE AND CONFIGURATION: 
Maksutov Cassegrain telescope 178 mm (primary mirror)

DETECTORS USED:  Avalanche APD, photon counting mode

SIGNAL PROCESSING: 

ANALOG-T0-DIGITAL CONVERTER: 

COMPUTER: 
Dell Vostro 1500 (Processor Intel®  Celeron®  560 (2.13GHz, 1M L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB)

PLATFORM (if applicable):  Labview (OS:Windows 2000/XP)

PUBLICATIONS (5 recent and/or significant):  N/A

COMMENTS:
Commercially available micropulse lidar manufactured by Sigma Space Corporation.