UMEL: A new regression tool to identify measurement peaks in LIDAR/DIAL systems for environmental physics applications

Recently, surveying large areas in an automatic way, for early detection of both harmful chemical agents and forest fires, has become a strategic objective of defence and public health organisations. The Lidar and Dial techniques are widely recognized as a cost-effective alternative to monitor large portions of the atmosphere. To maximize the effectiveness of the measurements and to guarantee reliable monitoring of large areas, new data analysis techniques are required. In this paper, an original tool, the Universal Multi Event Locator, is applied to the problem of automatically identifying the time location of peaks in Lidar and Dial measurements for environmental physics applications. This analysis technique improves various aspects of the measurements, ranging from the resilience to drift in the laser sources to the increase of the system sensitivity. The method is also fully general, purely software, and can therefore be applied to a large variety of problems without any additional cost. The potential of the proposed technique is exemplified with the help of data of various instruments acquired during several experimental campaigns in the field.