Multi-function Airborne Raman Lidar (MARLi)

Status

Status: 
Operational
Operated By: 
PI
MARLi installation on the UWKA
Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer structures measured by MARLi

(a) Lidar scattering ratio (LSR), (b) linear depolarization ratio (LDR), (c) temperature cross-sections, and (d) water vapor mixing ratio (WVMR) along 40° N from the ocean (left side) to the coast around the Shelter Cove on June 30, 2016, based on MARLi measurements from the UWKA.

MARLi was an NSF-MRI funded new instrument development to provide water vapor, temperature, aerosol, and cloud profiles within the planetary boundary layer (PBL). MARLi was successfully flight-tested on the UWKA and the NSF/NCAR C-130 for over sixty-hours in the summer of 2016.  
MARLi transforms our capability to observe the atmosphere at horizontal resolutions ranging from ~100 m to ~1 km and can revolutionize a range of atmospheric processes studies. These include: advancing our understanding of small-scale interactions between clouds and their environment, investigating air-sea and air-land interactions; documenting boundary layer structure over heterogeneous surfaces and under cloudy conditions; examining the mesoscale atmospheric environments and dynamics.

Instrument Type: 
Aircraft: 
NSF/NCAR C-130, University of Wyoming King Air, P-3 Orion - WFF
Missions: 
SARP 2024 (P-3 Orion - WFF)
Point(s) of Contact: 
Zhien Wang (POC; PI)