Shooting laser toward the sky is not new. Astronomers already use a low-power laser to create a kind of artificial star (see Astronomers create artificial star with laser beam).

But a new system, which has just been inaugurated by the department of meteorology in Switzerland, is more interested in creating a three-dimensional image of the factors that affect the climate within our atmosphere.

LIDAR

The new system of environmental monitoring, called LIDAR, uses a laser beam to detect the vertical distribution of temperature and moisture in the atmosphere. LIDAR is an acronym for Light Detection And Ranging.

In the same way that a radar sends radio waves and measure their reflections, a LIDAR sends waves of light. The “echo” in this case is a reflection of this wave of light by the different layers of the atmosphere.

3D picture of the atmosphere

The waves of reflected light are used to build a framework snapshot of the pattern of humidity and temperature to the upper atmosphere, allowing the development of a three-dimensional visualization of water vapor dispersed by air.

The spatial and temporal resolution achieved with the new mapping atmospheric are unique because the laser of LIDAR can be fired up to 30 times per second, an enormous improvement compared with the current system of balloons, which take several minutes to reach the upper atmosphere and can be sent only a few times a day. Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

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