BHUBANESHWAR: In a major technological breakthrough, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully developed India's first indigenous aerosol lidar, which will help in climate monitoring and significantly enhance air pollution detection.
An aerosol lidar system uses light detection and ranging (lidar) to remotely sense and profile atmospheric aerosols, providing information on their concentration, distribution, and properties, crucial for studying their impact on climate and air quality.
Developed by the Dehradun-based Instruments Research and Development Establishment (IRDE), a unit of DRDO, this aerosol lidar is the second of its kind in the world and a major import substitute, being cheaper and more compact.
India, currently the third most polluted country in the world, has long needed advanced tools to monitor aerosols, air pollutants, and atmospheric changes.
The new aerosol lidar will fill this crucial gap and allow the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) to analyse the vertical distribution of aerosols and clouds.
Director general (electronics and communication systems) of DRDO Binay Kumar Das handed over the cutting-edge system to IMD director general Mrutyunjay Mohapatra on Wednesday, marking a significant step toward self-reliance in advanced environmental monitoring technologies.
"These lidars will help in weather monitoring, forecasting, atmospheric research, climate change assessments and pollution control mechanisms. The first lidar is being installed at IMD observatory, Ranichauri in Uttarakhand," said Mohapatra.
The newly developed aerosol lidar is a combination of Mie, depolarisation and Raman channels with high energy fixed laser wavelength and large aperture receiver telescope, which is useful for vertical profiling of atmospheric parameters.
Mie and Depolarisation channels can characterise the aerosols and clouds in terms of height of occurrence, shape and optical properties up to an altitude of 20 km, while Raman channel can provide the information on water vapour mixing ratio up to 5 km.
The lidar system provides critical data on aerosol concentration at different altitudes, cloud properties and water vapor distribution that are crucial fo weather and rainfall predictions, besides the ice crystal cloud detection at high altitudes, which will help in lightning forecasting.
Until now, India's air quality monitoring primarily relied on surface-level sensor and satellite-based observations. Though IMD has a sky radiometer network which provides the columnar load of aerosol, it lacked detailed vertical distribution data. This missing information had made it challenging to accurately estimate radiative forcing, a key component in climate change studies.
"With aerosol lidar, IMD will now have access to high-resolution, real-time vertical data. Its deployment will strengthen our position in atmospheric research and contribute to better environmental strategies. It will also eliminate India's reliance on expensive imported lidar technology," said Das.
The aerosol lidar costs Rs 1.25 crore and weighs around 270 kg as compared to the 400-kg atmospheric lidar manufactured by Athens-based Raymetrics. The Greece lidar costs Rs 5.5 crore. IRDE director Ajay Kumar was present along with senior officers from IMD and the Ministry of Earth Sciences.