Quantitative Fluorescence Spectroscopy of NO2: Is NO2 Fluorescence Lidar a Viable Stratospheric Measurement Technique?

A stratospheric measurement of the NO2/NO ratio is important to our understanding of the photochemistry of the upper atmosphere. Lidar as a technique for making such measurements is particularly attractive for a number of reasons. In the case of balloon-borne experiments, data are taken some distance away from the contamination cloud of the balloon itself; altitude and horizontal profiles can be obtained; and since it is an active measurement and therefore not dependent on solar flux, nighttime measurements are also possible. Our laboratory has studied the quantitative fluorescence properties of NO2 at several wavelengths and these data as well as the lidar simulations arising out of them will be presented.