Center of Laser Atmosphere Sensing

headed by Prof. Sergei M Bobrovnikov



Research area

  • Development of the scientific basis, methods, and technologies for active and passive remote optical sensing of the atmosphere.
  • Laser sensing of atosphere and underlaying surface.
  • Study of physical mechanisms of changes in the stratospheric aerosol and ozone layers, gas constituents of ozone cycles, and temperature of the middle atmosphere based on the remote optical monitoring.

Main results

The center has performed the following works on the development of the experimental base for the laser sensing of the atmosphere:

  • Center has the unique multichannel measurement system Siberian Lidar Station. This station (included in the List of Unique Experimental Systems of the Russian Federation, 1995) ensures the measurement of optical and microstructural characteristics of aerosol in the altitude range 5–30 km, the vertical distribution of the ozone concentration in the altitude range 12–35 km by the DIAL method, the ozone concentration in the altitude range 5–20 km, the vertical temperature distribution in the altitude range 10–75 km from Raman and molecular scattering signals, the tropospheric humidity from signals of Raman scattering at water vapor and nitrogen molecules, optical and geometric characteristics of middle and high-level clouds in day- and nighttime, total ozone, and the total content and vertical distribution of nitrogen dioxide in eth altitude range 0–50 km by the method of twilight spectroscopy.
  • One of the brightest achievements is the development and manufacture of the first Russian spaceborne lidar BALKAN installed on the Spektr module of the MIR orbiting station. This result is included in the list of prominent results of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
  • Modernization of the Stratosfera polarization lidar (included in the Unique Scientific Setups of Russia Catalog), participation in the projection and startup of the Small and Big Stations of High-Altitude Sensing, development and production of the lidar for the monitoring of gas emissions from stacks of industrial enterprises, improvement of meteorological lidars for the measurement of the vertical distributions of temperature, humidity, air density, total aerosol.
  • Modernization of the Stratosfera lidar has allowed us to implement the optical lidar method of polarization investigations of anisotropic aerosol media, which is based on measurement of backscattering matrices.
  • The method has allowed the remote determination of the spatial orientation of nonspherical particles. In cooperation with the Faculty of Opto-Electronic Systems and Remote Sensing of the Radiophysical Department of the Tomsk State University, experimentally justified statistical data on the state of orientation of particles in crystal clouds were obtained for the first time.
  • Based on the results obtained, a new physical model has been proposed for the process of orientation of particles in crystal clouds. The model describes the joint action of aerodynamic and electrostatic forces and explains for the first time the possible mechanism of the azimuth orientation of particles. Characteristics of the backscattered signal calculated with the new model correspond to the results of laser sensing of clouds.
  • A spectral instrumentation unit for the Raman lidar has been designed and produced to order of the Taiwan National University (Taipei).
  • A lidar for the monitoring of gas emissions from stacks of industrial enterprises was certified in Khabarovsk as a monitoring tool.
  • State-of-the-art facilities are multiwave ground-based lidars of the LOZA series: stationary LOZA-S lidar (Tomsk) and LOZA-M2 small-size lidar used in field measurements.
  • LOZA-S multifunction lidar records simultaneously echo signals of elastic and molecular scattering at wavelengths of 355, 532, and 1064 nm, as well as inelastic (Raman) scattering at wavelengths of 387, 532 nm (nitrogen), and 407 nm (water vapor). This set of wavelength allows not only the reconstruction of optical parameters, but also the estimation of microstructural parameters of aerosol particles through the solution of the inverse problem.
  • LOZA-M2 small-size aerosol-Raman lidar was awarded with diploma in 2009 at the Fotonika-09 International Exhibition as one of the best domestic laser devices.
  • The statistical analysis of data of many-year regular measurements has been used to construct regional seasonal models of characteristics of the stratospheric, aerosol, and ozone layers, to determine tendencies of changes in the aerosol and ozone stratospheric layers under the background conditions of the long volcanically calm period of 1997–2006, to study the influence of the increased content of stratospheric aerosol after explosive eruptions of Mt. Pinatubo (1991) and Rabaul (2006) on the content of stratospheric ozone and gas constitutions of ozone cycles. The role of various photochemical cycles of ozone destruction at different altitudes in the stratosphere disturbed by volcanic aerosol has been revealed.

 

Swiss-Meteo lidar Sphinx Observatory, Switzerland, altitude of 3600 m

 

The center's develops new instruments and performs scientific research on the lidar detection of ultralow concentrations of potentially hazardous substances in the atmosphere. The Station of High-Altitude Sensing is equipped with new measurement channels at the qualitatively new level, and the measurement potential of the Station is increased.

Personnel

  1. Svetlana V Babchenko, engineer, phone: +7 3822 491-111 + 12-55, E-mail: bsv@iao.ru
  2. Vera K Bashlykova, technician, E-mail: bvk@iao.ru
  3. Oleg E Bazhenov, staff scientist, phone: +7 3822 492-266, E-mail: boe@iao.ru
  4. Sergei M Bobrovnikov, main staff scientist, Prof., phone: +7 3822 491-452, E-mail: bsm@iao.ru
  5. Dmitrii A Bochkovskii, staff scientist, PhD, phone: +7 3822 491-111 + 10-99, E-mail: moto@iao.ru
  6. Ilia D Bryukhanov, junior staff scientist, E-mail: idb@iao.ru
  7. Sergei I Dolgii, senior staff scientist, Dr., phone: +7 3822 491-385, E-mail: dolgii@iao.ru
  8. Evgenii V Gorlov, senior staff scientist, Dr., phone: +7 3822 491-452, E-mail: gorlov_e@sibmail.com
  9. Dorzhi D Khalkharov, engineer, E-mail: hdd@iao.ru
  10. Ol'ga V Kharchenko, senior staff scientist, Dr., phone: +7 3822 491-865, E-mail: olya@iao.ru
  11. Gleb E Kulikov, adv.engineer, E-mail: gleb@asd.iao.ru
  12. Alexey L. Kuznetsov, adv.engineer, E-mail: al_kuzn@iao.ru
  13. Elena V Litvinova, technician
  14. Andrei P Makeev, staff scientist, E-mail: map@iao.ru
  15. Valerii N Marichev, main staff scientist, Prof, phone: +7 3822 491-642, 10-99, E-mail: marichev@iao.ru
  16. Anatolii G Matukhnov, leading technologist, phone: +7 3822 492-408, 12-51, E-mail: mag@iao.ru
  17. Sergey N Murashko, engineer, phone: +7 3822 89996194203, E-mail: msn_17@mail.ru
  18. Aleksei V Nevzorov, senior staff scientist, Dr., phone: +7 3822 491385, E-mail: nevzorov@iao.ru
  19. Alexey D Safyanov, engineer, E-mail: saf@iao.ru
  20. Natal'ya S Sal'nikova, leader programmer, phone: +7 3822 492-266, E-mail: salnikova@iao.ru
  21. Andrei G Simakov, programmer, phone: +7 3822 492-363, E-mail: simakow@iao.ru
  22. Aleksandr Ya Sukhanov, senior staff scientist, Dr., phone: +7 3822 491-111 + 12-55, E-mail: say@iao.ru
  23. Stepan A Sulakshin, adv.engineer
  24. Galina A Svatkova, leader electronic eng., phone: +7 3822 491-452, E-mail: gal@iao.ru
  25. Sofia V Terent'eva, engineer
  26. Dmitry A Trifonov, junior staff scientist, E-mail: trifonov@iao.ru
  27. Sergei N Volkov, senior staff scientist, Dr., phone: +7 3822 492-886, E-mail: snvolk@iao.ru
  28. Nikolai G Zaitsev, staff scientist, Dr., E-mail: ZaicevNG@iao.ru
  29. Viktor I Zharkov, senior staff scientist, Dr., phone: +7 3822 491-452, E-mail: zharkov@iao.ru