Late at night on Thursday scientists tested the 532 nm laser of the ALIMA lidar (light detection and ranging).
The alignment of the laser emitted through a window on top of the aircraft, as well as the telescope that detects the backscattered photons, were adjusted.
The lidar system uses Rayleigh backscatter to derive temperature and vertical wind velocity from the middle atmosphere above the aircraft. The object of interest are atmospheric gravity waves, density fluctuations which serve as a driving force for the circulation in the middle atmosphere. The measurements will give insights into their propagation, momentum transport and dissipation at a high bandwidth of frequencies.
Learn more about ALIMA on the website of DLR’s Institute of Atmospheric Physics.
There is also some short press coverage (German):
23 Aug, Sueddeutsche: DLR startet Forschungsflüge
23 Aug, Merkur: Forschungsflugzeug HALO startet zu Nachtflügen
24 Aug, Augsburger Allgemeine: Das Forschungsflugzeug startet wieder