Six-year evolution of multiwavelength lidar system at CEILAP

This work presents the CEILAP multiwavelength lidar evolution developed and built for tropospheric aerosol measurements from its construction in 2003 to its most recent configuration in 2009. This system was constructed for measuring aerosol optical properties height dependency to characterize their intensive and extensive properties linking them to aerosol local production or transport. The evolution of this system is presented from its first configuration consisting in a biaxial elastic lidar measuring the Nd: YAG laser fundamental, second and third harmonic, to the present design that includes nitrogen and water vapor Raman backscatter measurements in its six wavelength coaxial detection system. Measurements and results from those intermediate configurations, most of them published, are also presented emphasizing the goals that lead to the mentioned transitions.