A laser radar atmospheric studies collaboration to investigate air pollution and atmospheric characteristics in the Bahamas

Light Detection And Ranging (Lidar) is a remote sensing technique used to measure and profile atmospheric aerosols. Atmospheric lidar systems do this by detecting laser-light scatter off aerosols, air molecules, and other atmospheric constituents, and subtracting and correcting for non-aerosol and -cloud signals. The CCD-Camera Lidar (CLidar) is a bistatic lidar system capable of high-resolution measurements near the ground -- a feature conventional monostatic lidar systems do not share due to field-of-view overlap errors that affect near-ground measurements. Developments in low-altitude remote sensing with the CLidar system allow for robust and relatively low-cost atmospheric profiling. A CLidar system was built and employed to profile atmospheric aerosols in the Bahamas. Semi-continuous atmospheric profiling with the CLidar permits short- and long-term studies of the Bahamas' atmospheric variability and higher-level aerosol structure, the future potential for which will be presented.