High Vertical Resolution Lidar Results and Case Studies during NAAMES

The NASA Langley Research Center High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL-1) instrument and the Langley Aerosol Research Group (LARGE) suite of in-situ aerosol instruments were flown on-board the NASA C-130 aircraft during the North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study (NAAMES). Flights were conducted during November 2015, May 2016, and September 2017 over the North Atlantic Ocean and coordinated with the Research Vessel Atlantis - performing in-situ sampling at the ocean surface. Flight patterns were constructed that allowed for airborne in-situ sampling of regions that were overflown with the HSRL-1 remote sensing instrument and low level sampling in close proximity to the ship. Coordinated ship and airborne flights have provided the unique ability to analyze ocean-atmosphere interactions across multiple seasons in a region targeted for concentrated biological activity. The HSRL-1 high resolution (1.25 m vertical, 100 m horizontal) aerosol backscatter (532, 1064 nm) and extinction results are compared with in-situ aerosol number, size, and optical measurements from the aircraft and ship. Information from aerosol depolarization results are used to provide additional microphysical information. Attempts to investigate high resolution backscatter and depolarization within clouds and at the cloud boundary are discussed. The vertical structure of aerosol scattering within the first few tens of meters of the marine atmosphere and the relevance of surface measurements to cloud heights will be discussed.