Abstract:
The article is a review of the activities with one type of extremely compact elastic backscatter lidar. The reported lidar is based on
micro-pulse laser operation and photon counting detection. The starting objective for the development was the automatic
operation from stratospheric aircraft for sub-visible clouds detection. The developed lidar proved also optimal for ground-based
measurements of Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) development and Aerosol Backscatter Coefficient (ABC). As an
illustration of its airborne capabilities selected results of thin clouds detection are presented. As examples for its ground-based
operation cases of ABL development and ABC measurements are reported. These include also monitoring of the variation of
Eyjafjallajokull volcano debris transport above Neuch?tel (Switzerland), as well as a statistical study on the correlation between
the lidar measurements and visual range. The years of operation proved that such lidars answer the demands for operation at
remote sites and at field campaigns.