RAMAN DETECTION FOR BALLOONBORNE LIDAR

THE FEASIBILITY OF ADDING A RAMAN DETECTION SYSTEM, FOR THE MEASUREMENT OF ATMOSPHERIC CONSTITUENTS, TO AN EXISTING BALLOONBORNE LIDAR PAYLOAD WILL BE INVESTIGATED. THE BALLOONBORNE LIAR IS CURRENTLY USED TO MAKE RAYLEIGH/MIE ATMOSPHERIC BACKSCATTER MEASUREMENTS. THE FEASIBILITY STUDY WILL INCLUDE, FOR THE VARIOUS TYPES OF RAMAN SCATTERING AN AN ERROR ANALYSIS BASED ON THE OPERATING PARAMETERS OF THE PRESENT LIDAR SYSTEM, AND THE ALTITUDE RESOLUTION, INTERGRATION TIME, SIGNAL-TO-NOISE, AND SELECTED SPECIES ALTITUDE PROFILES. A TRADE-OFF ANALYSIS OF THE HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS WILL BE PERFORMED. AN EXPERIMENTAL LABORATORY PROTOTYPE RAMAN DETECTOR WILL BE DESIGNED, FABRICATED, AND TESTED. BASED UPON THESE ANALYSES AND THE LABORATORY TESTS, THE MOST PROMISING RAMAN MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUE WHICH IS COM-PATIBLE WITH THE EXISTING BALLOONBORNE LIAR WILL BE SELECTEDAND A PRELIMINARY DESIGN OF A RAMAN DETECTION SYSTEM PERFORMED.