Arctic Lidar Observatory for Middle Atmosphere Research

Location / Organisation
The observatory is part of the Andøya Rocket Range, the world´s northernmost launch site for sounding rockets, situated at 69 N, 16 E. Universities and institutes from eight countries have installed instruments at ALOMAR and contribute to the operation costs. Several daily flights to Andenes ensure appropriate logistics to the site.

Human Resources
Qualified personnel operates the scientific instruments at ALOMAR on a daily basis and provides technical support for temporary and permanent installations. In close co-operation with the scientists, ALOMAR takes responsibility for concept and technical realization of new instruments and for science support related to campaign based research activities at Andøya.

Facility
The well equipped facility, easily accessible by mountain road, includes laser cooling water, power backup (UPS, diesel generators), high speed internet access, mechanical workshop, laboratories, telescope hall and office space. Overnight stay is possible.

Science Opportunities
The observatory includes remote sensing instruments that cover the atmosphere from ground to lower thermosphere. Synergy is gained through co-location of different instruments investigating both in a common height region and across the atmosphere layer.

Scientific Installations
Present instruments at ALOMAR comprise active and passive remote sensing systems. Active remote sensing facilitates the atmospheric return of strong laser pulses or radar signals to probe for various height depended physical properties. Passive remote sensing utilizes the emission or the absorption of radiation in the atmosphere to get various column properties, e.g. trace gases, electron or aerosol content.

Active Remote Sensing Instruments

• RMR-Lidar, powerful twin lidar 10 – 100 km, 1064/532/355 nm. Two times 150 MW peak power, two 1.8 m steerable telescopes. Temperature, Wind and Aerosol sounding.
• Ozone-Lidar, 308/353 nm DIAL lidar, 8 – 55 km, Ozone profiling, Rayleigh Temperatures
• Na-Lidar 78-105 km, high resolution winds, thermal structure of MLT Region, full gravity wave spectrum, wave breaking, and momentum deposition
• Troposphere Lidar, five channel aerosol backscatter, lidar 0.5 – 18 km. 1064/532/355 nm (three elastic, one depolarisation, one N2-Raman channel)
• MST-Radar (upcoming 2009) 53.5 MHz, 4 – 20 km, 50 - 100 km. Horizontal, vertical structures with high spatial and temporal resolution. Winds troposphere and UTLS, turbulence, PMSE, PMWE, winds, turbulence, meteors and temperatures@90km
• Two MF-radars, 1.98 MHz and 3.17 MHz, 50 – 110 km mesosphere winds, turbulence, waves and tides, electron densities, meteors, meteor winds and temperatures@90km, long term studies.
• Meteor-Radar, (SKiYMET), 80 – 110 km, 32.55 MHz Meteor observation, mesospheric winds, tides, waves, temperatures@90km

Passive Remote Sensing Instruments

• CIMEL Sun photometer, direct sun, sky radiance at 8 wavelengths 340/…../1640nm. aerosol optical depth (AOD), Ångstrom parameter and water vapor, aerosol size distribution, micro-physical parameters.
• Brewer (spectroradiometer), GUV (UV-radiometer), total ozone column, integrated UVA- and UVB irradiances, biologically weighted UV dose
• All-sky Imagers, two aurora imagers with filters for 557,7nm and 630,0nm
• H2O-Radiometer, 22GHz, water vapour volume mixing ratio (30-85km)
• Imaging Riometer, 38,2 MHz, 49 narrow beams, examining ionospheric electron density perturbations in both small time scale, as well as small spatial scale
• Geomagnetic activity monitors, two magnetometers.

ALOMAR Advocacy of International Participation and Collaborative Science
The ALOMAR facility, in operation since 1994 north of the Arctic circle, includes a large collection of lidars, radars, and passive remote sensing instruments installed and operated by European, Canadian, U.S., and Japanese institutions for atmospheric research.