Lidar and radiosonde measurement campaign for the validation of ENVISAT atmospheric products

An intensive aerosol and water vapour lidar measurement campaign, started on July 2002, is in progress at IMAA in Tito Scalo (PZ) (Southern Italy, 40°36’N, 15°44’E, 820 m above sea level) in the frame of the validation program of ENVISAT. A Raman lidar system is used to perform both aerosol and water vapour measurements; aerosol backscatter and extinction coefficients are retrieved from simultaneous elastic signals at 355 nm and inelastic N2 Raman backscatter lidar signals at 386.6 nm, whereas, water vapour mixing ratio measurements are retrieved from simultaneous H2O and N2 Raman signals. All the observations are complemented with radiosonde launches. First results of the intercomparison between water vapour lidar profiles and MIPAS profiles are presented. Radiosonde measurements of pressure and temperature have been compared with MIPAS and GOMOS profiles.