Osservazioni lidar in Artide

There is no region on earth where the climate is changing faster than in the Arctic. Clouds play a particularly important role in the Arctic climate, being the single-most important factor influencing the surface radiation budget. In the Arctic, low-level boundary layer clouds dominate. A thorough understanding of their role, together with the role of the aerosols in the Artic climate , requires a detailed knowledge of the effects of atmospheric aerosols and clouds on radiative processes, which is actually lacking. Several initiatives have been taken by the scientific community to provide more data and a better comprehension of radiative and microphysical processes in the boundary layer. A significative contribution can be supplied by lidar measurements in the Planetary Boundary Layer in the Artic and for this purpose a compact and portable Lidar (microlidar) was developed recently. The system can be run unattended and remotely controlled. Measurements were performed during the ASCOS (Arctic Summer Clouds experiment) campaign and since 2009 the Lidar has been operative at Ny-Alesund, Svalbard (Norway).