Abstract

Water vapor is one of the fundamental thermodynamic variables that define the state of the atmosphere. It is highly variable in space and time and influences many important processes related to weather and climate. For more than two decades the importance of water vapor profiling has been undersc... Show moreWater vapor is one of the fundamental thermodynamic variables that define the state of the atmosphere. It is highly variable in space and time and influences many important processes related to weather and climate. For more than two decades the importance of water vapor profiling has been underscored by the research and operational weather communities. The ability to measure the spatial and temporal variability of moisture in the lower troposphere is necessary to improve our understanding of many atmospheric processes, improve numerical weather prediction forecasting skills, study weather phenomena, and study regional climate variability. Differential absorption lidar can provide accurate, continuous high-resolution measurements of water vapor. The technique spans from complex research systems capable of 3-D scanning to truly autonomous field-deployable profiling devices. Show less