Early Temperatures Observed with the Extremely Sensitive Rayleigh Lidar at Utah State University

Abstract

Rayleigh-scatter lidar observations were made at the Atmospheric Lidar Observatory (ALO) at Utah State University (USU) from 1993–2004 from 45–90 km. The lidar operated at 532 nm with a power-aperture-product (PAP) of ~3.1 Wm2. The sensitivity of the lidar has since been increased by a factor of 66 to 205 Wm2, extending the maximum altitude into new territory, the lower thermosphere. Observations have been extended up to 115 km, almost to the 120 km goal. Early temperatures from four ~4-week periods starting in June 2014 are presented and discussed. They are compared to each other, to the ALO climatology from the original lidar [1], and to temperatures from the NRLMSISe00 empirical model [2].