Maïdo facility at Reunion Island : Lidar developments for UTLS subtropical investigations
Résumé
In the last 25 years, research in atmospheric chemistry and physics has been marked by the evolution of stratospheric ozone and by the impact of increasing levels of greenhouse gases on climate. In this context, it is important to detect and quantify such changes, to connect them into the different atmospheric compartments, and to quantify the strength of their exchanges. Located in the south-western part of the Indian Ocean at 20.8°S and 55.5°E, Reunion Island is well located to produce data to improve our knowledge of these atmospheric processes in the subtropics. Lidar observations detailed in this paper are Raman water vapor lidar and tropospheric ozone DIAL systems, which produce water vapor and ozone profiles over the whole free troposphere. In order to increase the number, range and quality of observations, the instruments will be modified and transferred to the Maïdo Facility at 2200 m above the sea level in 2012. We hope that when the two lidar systems will be in operation at the Maïdo facility, the production of simultaneous ozone and water vapor profiles reaching the UTLS will allow us to improve our understanding of this processes in the subtropical region of the Southern hemisphere.