title: Daytime measurements of atmospheric temperature profiles (2-15 km) by lidar utilizing Rayleigh-Brillouin scattering.
abstract: In this Letter, we report on a novel method for measuring atmospheric temperature profiles by lidar during daytime for heights of 2-15.3 km, with a vertical resolution of 0.3-2.2 km, using Rayleigh-Brillouin scattering. The measurements are performed by scanning a laser (λ=355 nm) over a 12 GHz range and using a Fabry-Pérot interferometer as discriminator. The temperature is derived by using a new analytical line shape model assuming standard atmospheric pressure conditions. Two exemplary temperature profiles resulting from measurements over 14 and 27 min are shown. A comparison with radiosonde temperature measurements shows reasonable agreement. In cloud-free conditions, the temperature difference reaches up to 5 K within the boundary layer, and is smaller than 2.5 K above. The statistical error of the derived temperatures is between 0.15 and 1.5 K.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Witschas
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lemmerz
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Reitebuch