The Small Mobile Ozone lidar (SMOL) - Development and validation

^(a) Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Wrightwood, California, USA
^(b) NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado, USA
^(c) CIRES, University of Colorado, Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA
^(d) Department of Chemistry, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA
^(e) NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, USA
^(f) NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA Lead Author e-mail address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Published online: 9 April 2026

Abstract

Ozone profile measurements at high temporal and vertical resolution are needed to better understand physical processes driving tropospheric ozone variability and to validate the tropospheric ozone measurements from spaceborne missions such as TEMPO (Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring Pollution). As part of the Tropospheric Ozone Lidar Network (TOLNet) efforts allocated to provide such measurements, and leveraging on the experience of more than 20 years of ozone lidar measurements at Table Mountain Facility, the JPL lidar group developed the SMOL (Small Mobile Ozone Lidar), an affordable differential absorption lidar (DIAL) system covering all altitudes from 150 m to 10 km a.g.l. In this abstract, we will review the main characteristics of SMOL, the preliminary results of its first field deployment during the Synergistic TEMPO Air Quality Science (STAQS) and Atmospheric Emissions and Reactions Observed from Megacities to Marine Areas (AEROMMA) campaigns in summer 2023, as well as discuss upcoming deployments and collaborations.