Remote sensing of the tropical rain forest boundary layer using pulsed Doppler lidar

Abstract

Within the framework of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Oxidant and Particle Photochemical Processes (OP3) project, a pulsed Doppler lidar was deployed for a 3 month period in the tropical rain forest of Borneo to remotely monitor vertical and horizontal transport, aerosol distributions and clouds in the lower levels of the atmosphere. The Doppler velocity measurements reported here directly observe the mixing process and it is suggested that this is the most appropriate methodology to use in analysing the dispersion of canopy sourced species into the lower atmosphere. These data are presented with a view to elucidating the scales and structures of the transport processes, which effect the chemical and particulate concentrations in and above the forest canopy, for applications in the parameterisation of climate models.