The potential role of lidar technique in the system of biomonitoring of the sea and difficulties of data interpretation are discussed in the paper. Recent development of lidar implementation of pump-and-probe technique may be considered as a step toward solution of some related problems. This novel lidar technique may be classified as `super-active.' The pump-and-probe shipboard lidar system is described in the paper. The results of field tests and applications (the North-Western Atlantic, 1990; the Mediterranean Sea, 1991) of the developed technique in biological oceanography are discussed. The horizontal distributions of phytoplankton photosynthetic activity and chlorophyll fluorescence in synoptic and meso-scales, as well as correlation with hydrological structures and diurnal variations of measured characteristics, were studied. The problems of future development are discussed.

Date Published: 17 June 1993
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 1922, Laser Study of Macroscopic Biosystems, (17 June 1993); doi: 10.1117/12.146164

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1922:
Laser Study of Macroscopic Biosystems
Jouko E. Korppi-Tommola, Editor(s)