Characterization of PBL height and structure by Raman lidar: selected case studies from the Convective and Orographically-induced Precipitation Study

The planetary boundary layer includes the portion of the atmosphere which is directly influenced by the presence of the Earth's surface. Aerosol particles trapped within the PBL can be used as tracers to study boundary-layer vertical structure and time variability. As a result of this, elastic backscatter signals collected by lidar systems can be used to determine the height and the internal structure of the PBL. Our analysis considers a method based on the first order derivative of the range-corrected elastic signal, which is a modified version of the method defined by Seibert and Sicard [1,2]. The analysis is focused on selected case studies collected by the Raman lidar system BASIL during the Convective and Orographically-induced Precipitation Study, held in Southern Germany and Eastern France in the period June-August 2007. Estimates of the PBL height and structure for specific case studies obtained from the above mentioned approach are compared with simultaneous estimates obtained from potential temperature profiles determined from the radiosondes launched simultaneously to lidar operation. Additional estimates of the boundary layer height and structure are obtained from lidar temperature signals. Preliminary results from these comparisons are illustrated and discussed in this paper.