Observation of boundary layer aerosols using a continuously operated, portable lidar system

A compact, continuously operated lidar system has been developed and applied for unattended, continuous monitoring of troposphere. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the automatic procedure that routinely optimizes the lidar alignment in a definite interval. On the basis of the data taken from December 2002 to June 2003, oscillatory behavior of the aerosol layer height, vertical motion of the aerosol layer, and speed of raindrops are discussed. A good correlation is found between the lidar signal backscattered inside the boundary layer and the data of suspended particulate matter simultaneously measured at the ground level. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.