Atmospheric Airborne Pressure Measurements Using the Oxygen A Band for the ASCENDS Mission

We report on airborne atmospheric pressure measurements using new fiber-based laser technology and the oxygen A-band at 765 nm. Remote measurements of atmospheric temperature and pressure are required for a number of NASA Earth science missions and specifically for the Active Sensing of CO2 Emissions Over Nights, Days, and Seasons (ASCENDS) mission. Accurate measurements of tropospheric CO2 on a global scale are very important in order to better understand its sources and sinks and to improve predictions on any future climate change. The ultimate goal of a CO2 remote sensing mission, such as ASCENDS, is to derive the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere in terms of mole fraction in unit of parts-per-million (ppmv) with regard to dry air. Therefore, both CO2 and the dry air number of molecules in the atmosphere are needed in deriving this quantity. O2 is a stable molecule and uniformly mixed in the atmosphere. Measuring the O2 absorption in the atmosphere can thus be used to infer the dry air number of molecules and then used to calculate CO2 concentration. With the knowledge of atmospheric water vapor, we can then estimate the total surface pressure needed for CO2 retrievals. Our work, funded by the ESTO IIP program, uses fiber optic technology and non-linear optics to generate 765 nm laser radiation coincident with the Oxygen A-band. Our pulsed, time gated technique uses several on- and off-line wavelengths tuned to the O2 absorption line. The choice of wavelengths allows us to measure the pressure by using two adjacent O2 absorptions in the Oxygen A-band. Our retrieval algorithm fits the O2 lineshapes and derives the pressure. Our measurements compare favorably with a local weather monitor mounted outside our laboratory and a local weather station

Pulsed Lidar Measurements of Atmospheric CO2 Column Absorption and Range During the ASCENDS 2009-2011 Airborne Campaigns

We have developed a pulsed lidar technique for measuring the tropospheric CO2 concentrations as a candidate for NASA's ASCENDS mission and have demonstrated the CO2 and O2 measurements from aircraft. Our technique uses two pulsed lasers allowing simultaneous measurement of a single CO2 absorption line near 1572 nm, O2 extinction in the Oxygen A-band, surface height and backscatter profile. The lasers are stepped in wavelength across the CO2 line and an O2 line doublet during the measurement. The column densities for the CO2 and O2 are estimated from the differential optical depths (DOD) of the scanned absorption lines via the IPDA technique. For the 2009 ASCENDS campaign we flew the CO2 lidar only on a Lear-25 aircraft, and measured the absorption line shapes of the CO2 line using 20 wavelength samples per scan. Measurements were made at stepped altitudes from 3 to 12.6 km over the Lamont OK, central Illinois, North Carolina, and over the Virginia Eastern Shore. Although the received signal energies were weaker than expected for ASCENDS, clear C02 line shapes were observed at all altitudes. Most flights had 5-6 altitude steps with 200-300 seconds of recorded measurements per step. We averaged every 10 seconds of measurements and used a cross-correlation approach to estimate the range to the scattering surface and the echo pulse energy at each wavelength. We then solved for the best-fit CO2 absorption line shape, and calculated the DOD of the fitted CO2 line, and computed its statistics at the various altitude steps. We compared them to CO2 optical depths calculated from spectroscopy based on HITRAN 2008 and the column number densities calculated from the airborne in-situ readings. The 2009 measurements have been analyzed in detail and they were similar on all flights. The results show clear CO2 line shape and absorption signals, which follow the expected changes with aircraft altitude from 3 to 13 km. They showed the expected nearly the linear dependence of DOD vs altitude. The measurements showed -1 ppm random errors for 8-10 km altitudes and -30 sec averaging times. For the 2010 ASCENDS campaigns we flew the CO2 lidar on the NASA DC-8 and added an O2 lidar channel. During July 2010 we made measurements of CO2 and O2 column absorption during longer flights over Railroad Valley NV, the Pacific Ocean and over Lamont OK. CO2 measurements were made with 30 steps/scan, 300 scans/sec and improved line resolution and receiver sensitivity. Analysis of the 2010 CO2 measurements shows the expected -linear change of DOD with altitude. For measurements at altitudes> 6 km the random errors were 0.3 ppm for 80 sec averaging times. For the summer 2011 ASCENDS campaigns we made further improvements to the lidar's CO2 line scan and receiver sensitivity. The seven flights in the 2011 Ascends campaign were flown over a wide variety of surface and cloud conditions in the US, which produced a wide variety of lidar signal conditions. Details of the lidar measurements and their analysis will be described in the presentation

Airborne Lidar Measurements of Atmospheric Pressure Made Using the Oxygen A-Band

Accurate measurements of greenhouse gas mixing ratios on a global scale are currently needed to gain a better understanding of climate change and its possible impact on our planet. In order to remotely measure greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere with regard to dry air, the air number density in the atmosphere is also needed in deriving the greenhouse gas concentrations. Since oxygen is stable and uniformly mixed in the atmosphere at 20.95%, the measurement of an oxygen absorption in the atmosphere can be used to infer the dry air density and used to calculate the dry air mixing ratio of a greenhouse gas, such as carbon dioxide or methane. OUT technique of measuring Oxygen uses integrated path differential absorption (IPDA) with an Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDF A) laser system and single photon counting module (SPCM). It measures the absorbance of several on- and off-line wavelengths tuned to an O2 absorption line in the A-band at 764.7 nm. The choice of wavelengths allows us to maximize the pressure sensitivity using the trough between two absorptions in the Oxygen A-band. Our retrieval algorithm uses ancillary meteorological and aircraft altitude information to fit the experimentally obtained lidar O2 line shapes to a model atmosphere and derives the pressure from the profiles of the two lines. We have demonstrated O2 measurements from the ground and from an airborne platform. In this paper we will report on our airborne measurements during our 2011 campaign for the ASCENDS program

Airborne Lidar Measurements of Atmospheric Pressure Using the Oxygen A-Band

We report on an airborne demonstration of atmospheric pressure measurements with an IPDA lidar using a fiber-based laser system and a photon counting detector

Airborne Measurements of CO2 Column Absorption and Range Using a Pulsed Direct-Detection Integrated Path Differential Absorption Lidar

We report on airborne CO2 column absorption measurements made in 2009 with a pulsed direct-detection lidar operating at 1572.33 nm and utilizing the integrated path differential absorption technique. We demonstrated these at different altitudes from an aircraft in July and August in flights over four locations in the central and eastern United States. The results show clear CO2 line shape and absorption signals, which follow the expected changes with aircraft altitude from 3 to 13 km. The lidar measurement statistics were also calculated for each flight as a function of altitude. The optical depth varied nearly linearly with altitude, consistent with calculations based on atmospheric models. The scatter in the optical depth measurements varied with aircraft altitude as expected, and the median measurement precisions for the column varied from 0.9 to 1.2 ppm. The altitude range with the lowest scatter was 810 km, and the majority of measurements for the column within it had precisions between 0.2 and 0.9 ppm

Analysis of Pulsed Airborne Lidar Measurements of Atmospheric CO2 Column Absorption from 3-13 km Altitudes

We have developed a pulsed lidar technique for measuring the tropospheric CO2 concentrations as a candidate for NASA's ASCENDS space mission [1]. It uses two pulsed laser transmitters allowing simultaneous measurement of a CO2 absorption line in the 1575 nm band, O2 extinction in the Oxygen A-band, surface height and backscatter profile. The lasers are precisely stepped in wavelength across the CO2 line and an O2 line region during the measurement. The direct detection receiver measures the energies of the laser echoes from the surface along with the range profile of scattering in the path. The column densities for the CO2 and O2 gases are estimated from the ratio of the on- and off-line signals via the integrated path differential absorption (IPDA) technique. The time of flight of the laser pulses is used to estimate the height of the scattering surface and to reject laser photons scattered in the atmosphere. We developed an airborne lidar to demonstrate an early version of the CO2 measurement from the NASA Glenn Lear-25 aircraft. The airborne lidar stepped the pulsed laser's wavelength across the selected CO2 line with 20 wavelength steps per scan. The line scan rate is 450 Hz, the laser pulse widths are 1 usec, and laser pulse energy is 24 uJ. The time resolved laser backscatter is collected by a 20 cm telescope, detected by a NIR photomultiplier and is recorded on every other reading by a photon counting system [2]. During August 2009 we made a series of 2.5 hour long flights and measured the atmospheric CO2 absorption and line shapes using the 1572.33 nm CO2 line. Measurements were made at stepped altitudes from 3-13 km over locations in the US, including the SGP ARM site in Oklahoma, central Illinois, north-eastern North Carolina, and over the Chesapeake Bay and the eastern shore of Virginia. Although the received signal energies were weaker than expected for ASCENDS, clear CO2 line shapes were observed at all altitudes, and some measurements were made through thin clouds. The Oklahoma and east coast flights were coordinated with a LaRC/ITT CO2 lidar on the LaRC UC-12 aircraft, and in-situ measurements were made using its CO2 sensor and radiosondes. We have conducted an analysis of the ranging and IPDA lidar measurements from these four flights. Most flights had 5-6 altitude steps with 200-300 seconds of recorded measurements per step. We used a cross-correlation approach to process the laser echo records. This was used to estimate the range to the scattering surface, to define the edges of the laser pulses and to determine echo pulse energy at each wavelength. We used a minimum mean square approach to fit an instrument response function and to solve for the best-fit CO2 absorption line shape. We then calculated the differential optical depth (DOD) of the fitted CO2 line. We computed its statistics at the various altitude steps, and compare them to the DODs calculated from spectroscopy based on HITRAN 2008 and the column conditions calculated from the airborne in-situ readings. The results show the lidar and in-situ measurements have very similar DOD change with altitude and greater than 10 segments per flight where the scatter in the lidar measurements are less than or equal to 1ppm. We also present the results from subsequent CO2 column absorption measurements, which were made with stronger detected signals during three flights on the NASA DC-8 over the southwestern US in during July 2010

Pulsed Airborne Lidar Measurements of C02 Column Absorption

We report on airborne lidar measurements of atmospheric CO2 column density for an approach being developed as a candidate for NASA's ASCENDS mission. It uses a pulsed dual-wavelength lidar measurement based on the integrated path differential absorption (IPDA) technique. We demonstrated the approach using the CO2 measurement from aircraft in July and August 2009 over four locations. The results show clear CO2 line shape and absorption signals, which follow the expected changes with aircraft altitude from 3 to 13 km. The 2009 measurements have been analyzed in detail and the results show approx.1 ppm random errors for 8-10 km altitudes and approx.30 sec averaging times. Airborne measurements were also made in 2010 with stronger signals and initial analysis shows approx. 0.3 ppm random errors for 80 sec averaging times for measurements at altitudes> 6 km

Pulsed Lidar Measurements of Atmospheric CO2 Column Absorption in the ASCENDS 2011 Airborne Campaign

We have previously demonstrated an efficient pulsed, wavelength-resolved IPDA lidar technique for measuring the tropospheric CO2 concentrations as a candidate for NASA's ASCENDS mission. Our team participated in the 2010 ASCENDS airborne campaigns we flew airborne version of the CO2 and O2 lidar on the NASA DC-8. The CO2 lidar measures the atmospheric backscatter profiles and shape of the 1572.33 nm absorption line using 250 mW average laser power, 30 wavelength samples per scan and 300 scans per second. Most flights had 5-6 altitude steps to greater than 12 km, and clear CO2 line shapes were observed at all altitudes. Our post-flight analysis estimated the Iidar range and pulse energies at each wavelength every second. We then solved for the best-fit CO2 absorption line shape, and calculated the Differential Optical Depth (DOD) at the line peak. We compared these to CO2 DODs calculated from spectroscopy based on HITRAN 2008 and the conditions from airborne in-situ readings. Analysis of the 2010 measurements over the Pacific Ocean and Lamont OK shows the expected -linear change of the peak DOD with altitude. For measurements at altitudes greater than 6 km the random errors were approximately 0.3 ppm for 80 sec averaging times. After the 2010 flights we improved the airborne lidar's scan uniformity, calibration and receiver sensitivity. Our team participated in the seven ASCENDS science flights during late July and August 2011. These flights were made over a wide variety of surface and cloud conditions near the US, including over the central valley of California, over several mountain ranges, over both broken and solid stratus cloud deck over the Pacific Ocean, snow patches on mountain tops, over thin and broken clouds above the US Southwest and Iowa, and over forests near the WLEF tower in Wisconsin. Analyses show the retrievals of lidar range and CO2 column absorption, as wen as estimates of CO2 mixing ratio worked well when measuring over topography with rapidly changing height and reflectivity, through thin clouds and to stratus cloud tops. For regions where the CO2 concentration was relatively constant, the measured CO2 absorption profile (averaged for 50 sec) matched the predicted profile to better than 1% RMS error for all flight altitudes. For 1 & 10 second averaging, the scatter in the retrievals was limited by signal shot noise (i.e. the sigual photon count). Analysis to date shows the decrease in CO2 due to vegetation when flying easterward over the Great Plains as well as the increase in CO2 concentration in the vicinity ofthe coal-fired power plant in New Mexico. Examples of these and other results will be presented

Airborne Lidar Measurements of Atmospheric Pressure Made Using the Oxygen A-Band

We report on airborne measurements of atmospheric pressure using a fiber-laser based lidar operating in the oxygen A-band near 765 nm and the integrated path differential absorption measurement technique. Our lidar uses fiber optic technology and non-linear optics to generate tunable laser radiation at 765 nm, which overlaps an absorption line pair in the Oxygen A-band. We use a pulsed time resolved technique, which rapidly steps the laser wavelength across the absorption line pair, a 20 cm telescope and photon counting detector to measure Oxygen concentrations

Fiber-Based Laser Transmitter at 1.57 Micrometers for Remote Sensing of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide from Satellites

Over the past 20 years, NASA Goddard has successfully developed space-based lidar for remote sensing studies of the Earth and planets. The lidar in all missions to date have used diode pumped Nd:YAG laser transmitters. Recently we have been concentrating work on developing integrated path differential absorption (IPDA) lidar to measure greenhouse gases, with the goal of measurements from space. Due to the absorption spectrum of CO2 a fiber-based master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) laser with a tunable seed source is an attractive laser choice. Fiber-based lasers offer a number of potential advantages for space, but since they are relatively new, challenges exist in developing them. In order to reduce risks for new missions using fiber-based lasers, we developed a 30- month plan to mature the technology of a candidate laser transmitter for space-based CO2 measurements to TRL-6. This work is also intended to reduce development time and costs and increase confidence in future mission success