Description

LASE_AFWEX data are Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment water vapor and aerosol data measurements taken during ARM-FIRE (Atmospheric Radiation Measurement - First ISCCP (International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project) Regional Experiment Water Vapor Experiment (AFWEX) Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment (LASE) is an airborne autonomous DIfferential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) system developed to measure water vapor, aerosol, and cloud profiles. These measurements can be used in various atmospheric investigations, including studies of air mass modification, latent heat flux, the water vapor component of the hydrologic cycle, and atmospheric transport using water vapor as a tracer of atmospheric motions. The simultaneous measurement of aerosol and cloud distributions can provide important information on atmospheric structure and transport, and many meteorological parameters can also be inferred from these data.The LASE ARM-FIRE Water Vapor Experiment (AFWEX) field experiment was conducted from November 27 - December 15, 2000 at the ARM Southern Great Plains Cloud and Radiation Testbed (CART) Site site in Lamont, Oklahoma. The goals of the mission were to characterize and improve the accuracy of water vapor measurements under a wide variety of conditions. LASE airborne lidar produces measurements of aerosols and water vapor vertical profiles from the aircraft altitude (6-8 km) down to the surface. AFWEX consisted of both airborne and ground-based instruments. The main result of AFWEX was to demonstrate that, with careful analysis, a core group of 5 instruments was accurate at the 5% level for the profile of water vapor.

DOI

Resources and Documentation

Earthdata Forum

PROFESSIONAL HOME PAGE

NASA Lidar Applications Group

PROJECT HOME PAGE

AFWEX campaign home page

VIEW RELATED INFORMATION

DATA CITATION POLICY

• How to cite ASDC data

GENERAL DOCUMENTATION

• ASDC Data and Information for LASE
• NASA.gov LASE Fact Sheet
• Project/Campaign Document: LASE Langley DAAC

INSTRUMENT/SENSOR CALIBRATION DOCUMENTATION

• LIDAR Applications Group overview of the LASE system

PRODUCT USAGE

• AFWEX LASE Aerosol and Water Vapor Distributions Overview

PUBLICATIONS

• ARM Research Publications

SCIENCE DATA PRODUCT SOFTWARE DOCUMENTATION

• Code for reading LASE SOLVE/AFWEX data files - Direct File Download (.c)

Keywords