LIDAR monitoring of the temperature in the middle and lower atmosphere

Two methods are described to monitor the temperature of the atmosphere from the ground to 100 km altitude. The Rayleigh LIDAR is now widely used (the French network includes four of those characteristics of which are given), and here, the major results obtained from this technique are presented. The second method, which completes the Rayleigh LIDAR downwards, uses the rotational Raman lines of O₂ and N₂. The method is briefly described and first results are presented. Including both the Rayleigh and Raman modes leads to a continuous temperature measuring method to survey changes in the lower and middle atmosphere.