Automatic Weather Station (AWS) Lidar

Abstract

An autonomous, low-power atmospheric lidar instrument is being developed at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. This compact, portable lidar will operate continuously in a temperature controlled enclosure, charge its own batteries through a combination of a small rugged wind generator and solar panels, and transmit its data from remote locations to ground stations via satellite. A network of these instruments will be established by co-locating them at remote Automatic Weather Station (AWS) sites in Antarctica under the auspices of the National Science Foundation (NSF). The NSF Office of Polar Programs provides support to place the weather stations in remote areas of Antarctica in support of meteorological research and operations. The AWS meteorological data will directly benefit the analysis of the lidar data while a network of ground based atmospheric lidar will provide knowledge regarding the temporal evolution and spatial extent of Type la polar stratospheric clouds (PSC). These clouds play a crucial role in the annual austral springtime destruction of stratospheric ozone over Antarctica, i.e. the ozone hole. In addition, the lidar will monitor and record the general atmospheric conditions (transmission and backscatter) of the overlying atmosphere which will benefit the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS). Prototype lidar instruments have been deployed to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station (1995-96, 2000) and to an Automated Geophysical Observatory site (AGO 1) in January 1999. We report on data acquired with these instruments, instrument performance, and anticipated performance of the AWS Lidar.