Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences

Lidar Exploration of the Atmosphere, Space and Their Interactions

We explore advanced spectroscopy principles, develop new lidar technologies, study the fundamental physical and chemical processes that govern the whole atmosphere, and make new discoveries in the atmosphere–space sciences.

Photo taken in November 2010 at McMurdo, Antarctica (From left: Wentao Huang, Xinzhao Chu, John A. Smith and Weichun Fong)

This is an energetic group! Many members have traveled to the end of the world to make lidar observations in Antarctica. Two of them (Zhibin Yu and Brendan Roberts) have braved through the harsh Antarctic winters in 2011 and 2012!

We are excited not only by the beautiful penguin and aurora, but also by the new science discoveries we have made in the polar thermosphere, mesosphere and stratosphere from the McMurdo lidar data. More details can be found in our Publications.

Besides making new science discoveries, these creative researchers are also excited by making innovations in lidar technologies and developing the next-generation lidar instruments. Currently, several new lidars are being developed on our campus in Boulder.

Creative students Zhibin Yu and John A. Smith “painted” LIDAR with the STAR Na Doppler lidar at the Table Mountain Lidar Facility, north of Boulder.

We always welcome new members and collaborations! Together we explore the atmosphere–space interactions with lidar observations and numerical modeling.

Spectacular aurora display over Arrival Heights near McMurdo, Antarctica when Zhibin Yu was operating our Fe Boltzmann lidar there on May 28, 2011.