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.

The GRIP Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment (LASE) dataset was collected by NASA's Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment (LASE) system, which is an airborne Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) system used to measure water vapor, aerosols, and clouds throughout the troposphere. LASE is onboard the NASA DC-8 aircraft and probes the atmosphere using lasers to transmit light in the 815-nm absorption band of water vapor. Pulses of laser light are fired vertically below the aircraft. A small fraction of the transmitted laser light is reflected from the atmosphere back to the aircraft and collected with a telescope receiver. The received light indicates the amount of water vapor along the path of the laser beam. LASE operated in the Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes (GRIP) experiment with data spanning between August 13, 2010 through September 25, 2010. The major goal was to better understand how tropical storms form and develop into major hurricanes. NASA used the DC-8 aircraft, the WB-57 aircraft and the Global Hawk Unmanned Airborne System (UAS), configured with a suite of in situ and remote sensing instruments that were used to observe and characterize the lifecycle of hurricanes.

The CAMEX-4 LIDAR Atmospheric Sensing Experiment (LASE) dataset was collected by the LASE instrument, which is an airborne DIAL (Differential Absorption Lidar) system used to measure water vapor, aerosols, and clouds throughout the troposphere. LASE operates by locking to a strong water vapor line and electronically tuning to any spectral position on the absorption line to choose the suitable absorption cross-section for optimum measurements over a range of water vapor concentrations in the atmosphere. During CAMEX-4, LASE operated from the NASA DC-8 using strong and weak water vapor lines in both the nadir and zenith modes, thereby simultaneously acquiring data below and above the aircraft.

The Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment (LASE) Tropospheric Aerosol Radiative Forcing Observational Experiment (TARFOX) data set was collected over the Western Atlantic Ocean in July 1996. The overall goal of TARFOX was to reduce uncertainties in the effects of aerosols on climate by determining the direct radiative impacts, as well as the chemical, physical, and optical properties, of the aerosols carried over the western Atlantic Ocean from the United States. LASE is an airborne autonomous DIAL system which produces measurements of aerosols and water vapor vertical profiles from the aircraft altitude down to the surface. Such profiles show the vertical context in which the TARFOX in situ and radiometric measurements are made, thus supporting the vertical extension of the in situ measurements and detecting any unsampled layers or inhomogeneities, which would impact the airborne and satellite radiative flux measurements. Note that the LASE_TARFOX data set is also available under the TARFOX project as the TARFOX_LASE data set. The data files included in these two data sets are identical.

The NAMMA Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment (LASE) dataset used the LASE system using the Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) system was operated during the NASA African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses (NAMMA) campaign to gather water vapor mixing ratio and aerosol scattering ratio (815 nm) profiles. Other derived parameters include: relative humidity, equivalent potential temperature, virtual potential temperature, precipitable water vapor profiles, aerosol backscatter, aerosol extinction, and aerosol optical thickness profiles (815 nm). Aerosol data are reported as atmospheric scattering ratios on a logarithmic scale. Water vapor data are reported as mixing ratios (g/kg) on both a linear and logarithmic scale. LASE was operated from the NASA DC-8 aircraft during 14 NAMMA campaign flights between August 15 and September 12, 2006.

LASE_SOLVE is the Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment (LASE) Data Obtained During the SAGE III Ozone Loss and Validation Experiment (SOLVE) data product. Data collection for this data set is complete.The LASE SOLVE field experiment was conducted in the Arctic during November 1999 to March 2000 with the scientists based above the Arctic Circle at the airport in Kiruna, Sweden. Measurements of stratospheric composition over the Arctic were made using a large suite of instruments aboard several European aircraft, as well as on NASA's DC-8 and ER-2 aircraft. Additionally, balloons and ground-based instruments also took atmospheric readings and scientists gathered ozone-related data to use in validating measurements by the SAGE III instrument aboard the Russian Meteor-3 satellite. LASE airborne lidar produced measurements of aerosols and water vapor vertical profiles from the aircraft altitude (6-8 km) down to the surface. SOLVE was a measurement campaign designed to examine the processes which control polar to mid-latitude stratospheric ozone levels. The goal of SOLVE was for its results to expand the understanding polar ozone processes to provide greater confidence in ozone monitoring capabilities.

The LASE Southern Great Plains (SGP97) field experiment was conducted in Oklahoma during June-July 1997. SGP97 was a NASA EOS Interdisciplinary Science Investigation to validate soil moisture retrieval algorithms at satellite temporal and spatial scales using remote sensing moisture measurements from aircraft and in situ soil measurements. One of the major objectives of SGP97 was the study of the impact of soil moisture on the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) development. To aid convective boundary layer (CBL) studies, LASE was deployed on the NASA P-3B aircraft along with other instruments. LASE (Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment) airborne lidar produces measurements of aerosols and water vapor vertical profiles from the aircraft altitude (6-8 km) down to the surface. Such profiles show the vertical context in which the SGP97 in situ and radiometric measurements are made, thus supporting the vertical extension of the in situ measurements and detecting any unsampled layers or inhomogeneities, which would impact the surface and airborne measurements.