Title: Development of Double and Tripled-Pulsed 2-micron IPDA Lidars for Column CO2 Measurement
Presenting Author: Upendra Singh
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center

Abstract:
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is an important greenhouse gas that significantly contributes to the carbon cycle and global radiation budget on Earth. CO2 role on Earths climate is complicated due to different interactions with various climate components that include the atmosphere, the biosphere and the hydrosphere. Although extensive worldwide efforts for monitoring atmospheric CO2 through various techniques, including in-situ and passive sensors, are taking place high uncertainties exist in quantifying CO2 sources and sinks. These uncertainties are mainly due to insufficient spatial and temporal mapping of the gas. Therefore it is required to have more rapid and accurate CO2 monitoring with higher uniform coverage and higher resolution. CO2 DIAL operating in the 2-micron band offer better near-surface CO2 measurement sensitivity due to the intrinsically stronger absorption lines. For more than 15 years, NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) contributed in developing several 2-micron CO2 DIAL systems and technologies. This paper focuses on the current development of the airborne double-pulsed and triple-pulsed 2-micron CO2 integrated path differential absorption (IPDA) lidar system at NASA LaRC. This includes the IPDA system development and integration. Results from ground and airborne CO2 IPDA testing will be presented. The potential of scaling such technology to a space mission will be addressed.