EARLINET

The European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET) is the first network of advanced lidar stations which provides a quantitative climatological database of the horizontal, vertical, and temporal distribution of aerosols over Europe. Lidars are powerful tools for providing quantitative measurements of the optical properties of aerosols with high spatial and temporal resolution and with a high level of accuracy.

The objectives of EARLINET is reached by operating a network of stations distributed over most of Europe, using advanced quantitative laser remote sensing to directly measure the vertical distribution of aerosols, supported by a suite of more conventional observations. Special care is taken to assure data quality, including intercomparisons at instrument and evaluation levels. A major part of the measurements is performed according to a fixed schedule to provide an unbiased statistically significant data set. Additional measurements are performed to specifically address important processes that are localised either in space or time.

Belgrade lidar station has been a member of EARLINET since April 2014. (P.I. dr Zoran Mijic)