INSTRUMENTS ,

The Solar Radiation Group of the University of Valencia has been carrying out research in the field of atmospheric aerosols since 1989. To date, the technique used for characterising aerosols was based solely on the extinction of solar radiation in its passage through the atmosphere. Initially an Eppley NIP broadband pyrheliometer was used, and later Cimel CE 318-2 photometers and LiCor 1800 and Optronic 754-O-PMT spectroradiometers, but this technique only provides information on aerosols throughout the atmospheric column as a whole, without entering into their vertical distribution. For this purpose, a micro-lidar was acquired to obtain information on the vertical profile of aerosol extinction. It is a Cimel CAML CE 370-2 micro-lidar with an Nd:YAG laser that emits light pulses at 532 nm of 4 mJ energy and duration less than 1 ns, with a frequency of 4.6 kHz. In reception it uses a telescope of 20 cm aperture and photoreceivers with avalanche photodiodes. It also has an interferential filter of width 0.2 nm. The weight of the system is around 20 kg and it is easy to transport. These instruments have been complemented with a recently-acquired TSI 3563 nephelometer.