Antarctic Miniature Lidar

Reports on a compact, low-power lidar that has been assembled, tested, and deployed at the Atmospheric Research Observatory (ARO) at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station since February 1996. The Antarctic Miniature Lidar uses commercially available, single-element semiconductor lasers (SDL-5430), a 20-cm Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, and single-photon counting (EG&G SPCM AQ-122). The authors present lidar measurements made during two polar nights, April 1996 through September 1996 and April 1997 through September 1997. The Antarctic Miniature Lidar has been designed to operate continuously during the polar night to detect the occurrence of polar stratospheric clouds which occur at altitudes of 12-27 km.