Romania is the leader in a project to build a tool to detect and monitor tiny particles suspended in air, referred to as "lidar".
The new "lidar" - the first of its kind in Europe - has the role to contribute to the mission satellites European Space Agency's (ESA) that focuses on the atmosphere, according to an announcement posted recently on the website of the Romanian Space Agency (ROSA).
According to a contract signed on the 14 October at the headquarters of ESA in Paris, National Institute of Research-Development for Optoelectronics in Magurele will lead the new project Multiply, whose purpose is the development of the first lidar airborne high spectral resolution, which act in several wavelengths. The tool, for the construction of which will be needed over two years, is designed to probe the atmosphere from an aircraft, to detect and map aerosols.
Aerosols are very small particles that are in suspension in the atmosphere. Since they scatter and absorb sunlight, their presence can be observed when they are large enough, as it causes fog and sunrises and sunsets reddish. A better understanding of the effect of aerosols on the climate and weather is the goal of future satellite missions of ESA, such as EarthCARE, Sentinel-4 and Sentinel-5.
It is expected that the new tool airborne to play an important role in the preparation of these missions and the validation of their measurements from space. "The construction of this new sensor not only helps to ensure the accuracy of new satellites that are studying the atmosphere, but also marks an important milestone in the collaboration between ESA and Romania in the field of Observing the Earth", it says in the ad.
Romania officially became the 19th member state of ESA in December 2011. The contract, worth almost 3 million euros, was signed by Roxana Radvan, the deputy general director of the National Institute of Research-Development for Optoelectronics.
"I am pleased to see Romania, a new member state, drive the realization of this new ambitious project," said Volker Liebig, director of ESA observation of the Earth.
"The project is based on and extends the knowledge existing in Romania and will allow the country and its partners of the international project to play an important role and visible in the preparation of future satellite missions for atmospheric and validation of numerous missions the ESA observation of the Earth within its orbit," said Volker Liebig.
Lidarul emits light in the form of laser beams pulsed to measure the intervals. For example, the package of tools EarthCARE includes a lidar which provides the profile of the aerosols and the clouds thin. It works by emitting short pulses of strong ultraviolet light down into the atmosphere and then collects the light that is scattered back to the sensor from the air molecules and particles of the cloud.
Aerosols in the atmosphere originate mainly from volcanic eruptions, dust from the desert and fires, as well as from human activities such as burning coal and oil. Aerosols affect the amount of radiation on Earth and climate. They scatter sunlight back into space, thereby cooling the planet. They can also affect the particle size of clouds, changing how the clouds reflect and absorb sunlight. in addition, they provide the context for the chemical reactions, which can lead to the formation of large amounts of chlorine reagent and, ultimately, to the destruction of ozone in the stratosphere.
The new lidar will be an essential resource for the Office of ESA called "Campaigns", which performs field experiments extended to support the development of new technologies space and ensure that the satellites of observation of the Earth provides accurate data. "Development of a lidar spectral high resolution that works in the air covers an area lack important capacities of the sensors of the air in Europe," said Malcolm Davidson, head of Campaigns.
"The tool Multiply will be extremely valuable to improve our understanding on the distribution and origin of aerosols in the atmosphere and to prepare and to make the best use of satellites atmospheric observation of the Earth," said Malcolm Davidson.
