Sodium fluorescence Doppler lidar to measure atmospheric temperature in the mesopause region

Abstract

A sodium fluorescence Doppler lidar system has been developed to measure environmental parameters of the middle and upper atmosphere. The lidar system mainly comprises a transmitter system, receiver system, data acquisition and control system and data analysis system. A narrowband 589 nm laser is used to excite sodium atoms in the mesopause region. Excitation of the sodium atoms results in resonance fluorescence, which is collected by the receiver. The temperatures in the mesopause region (about 75-105 km) can be derived by analyzing the Doppler-broadened width of the sodium fluorescence. Observations were made with the lidar system, and the number density of sodium atoms and atmospheric temperature profiles were extracted from the observation data. Comparisons of the lidar temperatures and TIMED/SABER temperatures show good agreement, illustrating the reliability of the sodium fluorescence Doppler lidar measurements. © 2011 The Author(s).