MARCO (Micro-pulse Atmospheric Optical Radar for Climate Observations)
MARCO (Micro-pulse Atmospheric Optical Radar for Climate Observations) is a compact and easily transportable lidar based on high repetition rate solid-state laser technology. It allows the measurement of water vapor profiles and backscatter and extinction coefficients of atmospheric particulates; the capability to provide temperature profiles will be implemented in the next months.
This system successfully demonstrated the capability of atmospheric thermodynamic profiling by Raman lidar using a micro-pulse laser source, operating continuously over a period of 16 months.
Di Girolamo, P., Franco, N., Di Paolantonio, M., Summa, D., and Dionisi, D.: Atmospheric Thermodynamic Profiling through the Use of a Micro-Pulse Raman Lidar System: Introducing the Compact Raman Lidar MARCO, Sensors, 23, 8262, https://doi.org/10.3390/s23198262, 2023.
Current status: field campaign in preparation
Measurement campaigns
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WaLiNeAs
(Water vapor Lidar Network Assimilation) Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône , France, November 2022 - February 2024
An international project coordinated by CNRS and Météo-France. WaLiNeAs is aimed at studying extreme precipitation events and improving their predictability through the assimilation into mesoscale numerical models of water vapor profile measurements from a network of Raman lidar systems.
Flamant, C., Chazette, P., Caumont, O., Di Girolamo, P., Behrendt, A., Sicard, M., Totems, J., Lange, D., Fourrié, N., Brousseau, P., Augros, C., Baron, A., Cacciani, M., Comerón, A., De Rosa, B., Ducrocq, V., Genau, P., Labatut, L., Muñoz-Porcar, C., Rodríguez-Gómez, A., Summa, D., Thundathil, R., and Wulfmeyer, V.: A network of water vapor Raman lidars for improving heavy precipitation forecasting in southern France: introducing the WaLiNeAs initiative, Bull. of Atmos. Sci.& Technol., 2, 10, https://doi.org/10.1007/s42865-021-00037-6
, 2021.
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DECIPHER (
Disentangling mechanisms controlling atmospheric transport and mixing processes over mountain areas at different space- and timescales) Passo Valles (Trento), Italy, in preparation
The goal of the project, coordinated by the University of Trento, is to characterise atmospheric turbulence in the surface layer over mountain slopes and the associated surface-atmosphere exchange processes by means of targeted intensive field measurements.
Quicklooks
