Lidar Profiling of Sound Speed and Temperature in the Ocean Upper Mixed Layer

Abstract : My long term goals are the exploitation of physics for the solution of significant problems in oceanography. My interests generally lie in the direction of optics and laser interactions in the ocean. Our goal is the rapid and accurate measurement of upper-ocean vertical sound speed (and hence temperature) profiles in the ocean. The objective is to obtain range resolved (approx. 1 m) measurements of temperature and sound speed over a range of 100 m at an accuracy of 0.1 deg C and 0.2 m/s, respectively. To this end we are developing an innovative Brillouin LIDAR concept. Present results provide considerable confidence in the success of this objective.