TARFOX Abstracts
at AGU Special Sessions
Baltimore, MD, 5/29-30, 1997

Marian B. Clayton ph. 1-757-864-2841; e-mail: m.b.clayton @larc.nasa.gov);
Vincent G. Brackett ph. 1-757-864-5854; e-mail: v.g.brackett@larc.nasa.gov);
Susan A. Kooi ph. 1-757-864-2711; e-mail: s.a.kooi@larc.nasa.gov);
Katie Lofton e-mail: loft2452@blue.univnorthco.edu);
Edward V. Browell ph. 1-757-864-1273; e-mail:e.v.browell@larc.nasa. gov);
Syed Ismail (NASA LaRC MS 401A, Hampton, VA 23681, USA; ph. 1-757-864-2719; e-mail: s.ismail@larc.nasa.gov)

The Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment (LASE) was one of several instruments that participated in the TARFOX mission based out of Wallops, VA in July 1996. LASE remotely measured relative aerosol backscatter profiles throughout the troposphere and water vapor mixing ratio profiles from ~1 to 16 km ASL beneath the ER-2 aircraft. The data were available in real-time to detect cirrus clouds and haze layers and direct the other TARFOX participating aircraft to locations of scientific interest. Post-flight analysis improved the data by correcting the real-time water vapor measurements for off-line water vapor absorption and producing aerosol total scattering ratios. The aerosol total scattering ratio data were corrected for signal attenuation due to cirrus clouds; thus improving the aerosol measurement from the cloud tops to the ground. In addition, backscatter to extinction ratios were calculated across the cirrus clouds. The processed data are available via the World Wide Web (asd-www.larc.nasa.gov/lidar/lidar.html) in image, line-plot and digital formats. Currently, these web pages are restricted to the TARFOX investigators until data are made public. Examples of each type of data product will be presented. Plans for future data products include calculation of water vapor near the surface using atmospheric and ground returns, and computation of integrated tropospheric water vapor columns. In addition to the ER-2, future LASE missions will fly on board NASA's P3 and DC-8 aircraft and in nadir/zenith configurations. Data processing capabilities of these systems will be discussed in this presentation.