AGLITE: a multi-wavelength lidar for measuring emitted aerosol concentrations and fluxes and air motion from agricultural facilities

AGLITE is a multi-wavelength lidar developed for the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and its program on particle emissions from animal production facilities. The lidar transmitter is a 10 kHz pulsed NdYAG laser at 355, 532 and 1064 nm. We analyze lidar backscatter and extinction to extract aerosol physical properties. All-reflective optics and dichroic and interferometric filters permit all wavelengths to be measured simultaneously, day or night, using photon counting by MTs, an APD, and fast data acquisition. The lidar housing is a transportable trailer suitable for all-weather operation at any accessible site. We direct the laser and telescope FOVs to targets of interest in both azimuth and elevation. The lidar has been applied in atmospheric studies at a swine production farm in Iowa and a dairy in Utah. Prominent aerosol plumes emitted from the swine facility were measured as functions of temperature, turbulence, stability and the animal feed cycle. Particle samplers and turbulence detectors were used by colleagues specializing in those fields. Lidar measurements also focused on air motion as seen by scans of the farm volume. The value of multi-wavelength, eye-safe lidars for agricultural aerosol measurements has been confirmed by the successful operation of AGLITE.