Arctic Atmospheric Lidar Measurements from Eureka Nunavut

Daily NetCDF files provide aerosol backscatter and circular depolarization ratio data from a High Spectral Resolution Lidar instrument in the Canadian Arctic. The dataset is an ongoing collection updated daily, managed by Ed Eloranta at the University of Wisconsin under the IASOA initiative. Data collection began in March 2006.

Use Cases

• Analyze temporal trends in aerosol_backscatter to study Arctic haze events and seasonal pollution transport.
• Use circular_depolarization_ratio to classify aerosol types (e.g., dust, smoke) and discriminate between ice and water clouds.
• Combine daily NetCDF files to create long-term climatologies of atmospheric optical properties for climate model validation.
• Integrate lidar-derived aerosol profiles with other Arctic observatory data (e.g., MMCR, AERI) for multi-instrument cloud property studies.

Strengths

• Daily temporal resolution provides high-frequency monitoring of atmospheric changes.
• Data collection is ongoing and updated daily, offering near-realtime access.

Limitations

• Spatial coverage is limited to a single geographic point at Eureka, Nunavut.
• Specific row counts, column details, and file sizes are not documented.

Provenance

Source

University of Wisconsin High Spectral Resolution Lidar, deployed by Ed Eloranta.

Collection Method

Continuous remote sensing measurements from a ground-based High Spectral Resolution Lidar instrument.

Time Range

From March 2006 to present.

Freshness

Updated daily.

Geography

Eureka, Nunavut, Canada (Arctic region).