LIDAR RESEARCHER: Dr. Josef Höffner, Prof. Dr. Franz-Josef Lübken

RESEARCH ASSOCIATES: Cord Fricke-Begemann, Jens Lautenbach

MAILING ADDRESS:

Leibniz-Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Schloss-Strasse 6, 18225 Kuehlungsborn, Germany

TELEPHONE NUMBER: +49 38293 680

FAX NUMBER: +49 38293 6850

E-MAIL ADDRESS: hoeffner, luebken, fricke-begemann, lautenbach@iap-kborn.de

WEB SITE: http://www.iap-kborn.de/optik/optik_e.htm

DATE: May 24, 2004

LIDAR LOCATION (CITY, COUNTRY, LAT., LONG.):

Kuehlungsborn, Germany, 54°07'N, 11°46'E (variable for the transportable system)

SITE ELEVATION: 70 m

PARAMETER(S) OR CONSTITUENT(S) MEASURED:

Potassium density, temperature, aerosol backscatter coefficient

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND SPONSOR:

Thermal, dynamical, and tidal structure of the mesopause region.

Noctilucent clouds.

MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUE:

Laser induced fluorescence, probing the K(D1) Doppler spectrum

MEASUREMENT RANGE: 80-110 km (technically 30-150 km)

VERTICAL RESOLUTION: 200 m

FREQ. OF MEASUREMENT (TYPICALLY): all clear nights, at daytime irregular

MEASUREMENT TIMES (TYPICALLY): up to 24 hr

LASER TYPE AND WAVELENGTH (s):

Seeded narrow-band alexandrite laser, continous wavelength scan at 770 nm

LASER ENERGY/PULSE: 150 mJ

PULSE REPETITION RATE: 33 Hz

RECEIVER SIZE AND CONFIGURATION: 76.2 cm diameter, zenith pointing

DETECTORS USED: photon counting APD (and PMT)

SIGNAL PROCESSING: all digital

ANALOG-T0-DIGITAL CONVERTER: -

COMPUTER: PC

PLATFORM (if applicable): Windows NT

PUBLICATIONS:

Von Zahn, U., and J. Höffner, Mesopause temperature profiling by potassium lidar, Geophys. Res. Lett., 23 , 141-144, 1996.

Fricke-Begemann, C., M. Alpers, and J. Höffner, Daylight rejection with a new receiver for potassium resonance temperature lidars, Opt. Lett., 27 (21), 1932-1934, 2002.

Höffner J., C. Fricke-Begemann, and F.-J. Lübken, First observations noctilucent clouds by lidar at Svalbard, 78°N, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 3 , 1101-1111, 2003.

F.-J. Lübken and J. Höffner, Experimental evidence for ice particle interaction with metal atoms at the high latitude summer mesopause region, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31 , L08103, doi:10.1029/2004GL019586, 2004.

COMMENTS:

The Leibniz-Institute of Atmospheric Physics operates two similar potassium lidars. The stationary system at Kuehlungsborn is co-located with a RMR-lidar (see separate entry) and Na/Ca/Fe-resonance-lidar (metal density measurements using dye lasers). The second K-lidar is containerized and transportable. It has been employed for campaigns at different locations (28°N, 78°N, shipborne measurements).

Both systems are supplied with unique narrowband Faraday filters (FADOF) for daylight rejection.