Comparison of LIDAR and Mini-Rawin Sonde profiles
By: Daniel Edward Harrison
Publisher: Naval Postgraduate School; Available from National Technical Information Service
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Monterey, Calif; Springfield, Va
Language: eng
Number of pages: 52
Description: Current Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) technology allows for remotely sensed, real-time      measurement of most atmospheric properties including structure, dynamics and primary chemical constituents.      The LIDAR Atmospheric Profile Sensor (LAPS) instrument, completed in April 1996 at the Applied      Research Laboratory/Pennsylvania State University (ARL/PSU), was developed as a prototype sensor for      continuous, automated atmospheric soundings aboard aircraft carriers, advanced-radar combatants and      shore stations. These data can then be used to calculate the atmospheric refractivity profiles for      electromagnetic propagation prediction and as input to system performance assessments. This report shows      the advantages and disadvantages of LAPS atmospheric data as compared to the MRS sounders currently in      use. LAPS can provide an accurate, continuous on-demand real-time data, is able to characterize variations      in the marine boundary layer, and does not require cumbersome logistic support (e.g. helium bottles and      balloons). The present weaknesses of LAPS are its relatively coarse vertical resolution, degraded daytime      data due to scattering, sometimes erratic temperature measurements, and ship's gas absorption.
Notes: Thesis advisor(s): Kenneth LaVern Davidson, Carlyle H. Wash.

"June 1998."

Thesis (M.S. in Meteorology and Physical Oceanography) Naval Postgraduate School, June 1998.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 49-50)

Approved for public release; distribution unlimited.

Also available online.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0.

US Navy (USN) author.

dk/dk cc:9116 9/15/98.