Study of the scanning lidar on the atmospheric detection

The scanning polarization Mie lidar (SPML) system has been developed and is described. The lidar system has two detection channels to receive the parallel and perpendicular polarization components at the laser wavelength of 532 nm, which indicates the nonsphericity of aerosol and cloud particles. It can take the horizontal, vertical and conical scans of the atmosphere with the elevation and azimuth motors. This paper discusses the current capability of the SPML lidar and its results. The observation shows that the SPML lidar can provide the multi-dimensional views of the atmosphere which is impossible to achieve with other ground-based vertically pointing lidars. It is helpful to track and monitor aerosol plumes in urban area, to determinate the planetary boundary layer height and to enhance the measurement of atmosphere in the lower height where the geometrical form factor of lidar system affects. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.