Evaluation of the possibilities of detecting ejections of nitrogen oxides by an airborne differential absorption lidar operating in the medium ir spectral region

Using numerical simulation, we evaluated the possibilities of detecting ejections of nitrogen oxides by an airborne differential absorption lidar operating in the medium IR spectral region at converted frequencies of CO- and CO₂-lasers. We present results of calculations of random errors in determining the integrated content of nitrogen oxide and dioxide depending on the amount of ejection and the flight altitude of an airplane. It is shown that the use of frequency-converted CO- and CO₂-laser radiation makes it possible to determine ground-level ejections of nitrogen oxides at a level of 0.01 MPC. Institute of Atmospheric Optics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, I Akademicheskii Ave., Tomsk, 634055, Russia; e-mail: oleg@losa.iao.tomsk.ru. Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 66, No. 6, pp. 843–845, November–December, 1999.