Water vapor measurements by Raman lidar during the ARM 1997 water vapor intensive observation period

Water vapor is the most important greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, as it is the most active infrared absorber and emitter of radiation, and it also plays an important role in energy transport and cloud formation. Accurate, high resolution measurements of this variable are critical in order to improve the understanding of these processes and thus their ability to model them. Because of the importance of water vapor, the Department of Energy`s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program initiated a series of three intensive operating periods (IOPs) at its Cloud and Radiation Testbed (CART) site in northern Oklahoma. The goal of these IOPs is to improve and validate the state-of-the-art capabilities in measuring water vapor. To date, two of the planned three IOPs have occurred: the first was in September of 1996, with an emphasis on the lowest kilometer, while the second was conducted from September--October 1997 with a focus on both the upper troposphere and lowest kilometer. The ARM CART site is the home of several different water vapor measurement systems. These systems include a Raman lidar, a microwave radiometer, a radiosonde launch site, and an instrumented tower. During these IOPs, additional instrumentation was brought to the site to augment the normal measurements in the attempt to characterize the CART instruments and to address the need to improve water vapor measurement capabilities. Some of the instruments brought to the CART site include a scanning Raman lidar system from NASA/GSFC, additional microwave radiometers from NOAA/ETL, a chilled mirror that was flown on a tethersonde and kite system, and dewpoint hygrometer instruments flow on the North Dakota Citation. This paper will focus on the Raman lidar intercomparisons from the second IOP