We report on the design, construction and operation of a new multiwavelength lidar developed for the Agricultural Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture and its program on particle emissions from animal production facilities. The lidar incorporates a laser emitting simultaneous, pulsed Nd laser radiation at 355, 532 and 1064 nm at a PRF of 10 kHz. Lidar backscatter and extinction data are modeled to extract the aerosol information. All-reflective optics combined with dichroic and interferometric filters permit all the wavelength channels to be measured simultaneously, day or night, using photon counting by PMTs, an APD, and high speed scaling. The lidar is housed in a transportable trailer for all-weather operation at any accessible site. The laser beams are directed in both azimuth and elevation to targets of interest. We describe application of the lidar in a multidisciplinary atmospheric study at a swine production farm in Iowa. Aerosol plumes emitted from the hog barns were prominent phenomena, and their variations with temperature, turbulence, stability and feed cycle were studied, using arrays of particle samplers and turbulence detectors. Other lidar measurements focused on air motion as seen by long duration scans of the farm region. Successful operation of this lidar confirms the value of multiwavelength, eye-safe lidars for agricultural aerosol measurements.

Date Published: 19 May 2006
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 6214, Laser Radar Technology and Applications XI, 62140J (19 May 2006); doi: 10.1117/12.666219

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6214:
Laser Radar Technology and Applications XI
Gary W. Kamerman; Monte D. Turner, Editor(s)