Lidar validation measurements at the NOAA Mauna Loa Observatory NDACC Station

Abstract

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) transported two lidar instruments to the NOAA facility at the Mauna Loa Observatory (MLO) on the Big Island of Hawaii, to participate in an official, extended validation campaign. This site is situated 11,141 ft. above sea level on the side of the mountain. The observatory has been making atmospheric measurements regularly since the 1950’s, and has hosted the GSFC Stratospheric Ozone (STROZ) Lidar and the GSFC Aerosol and Temperature (AT) Lidar on several occasions, most recently between November, 2012 and November, 2015. The purpose of this extended deployment was to participate in Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC) Validation campaigns with the JPL Stratospheric Ozone Lidar and the NOAA Temperature, Aerosol and Water Vapor instruments as part of the routine NDACC Validation Protocol.