Remote sensing of seawater and drifting ice in Svalbard fjords by compact Raman lidar

A compact Raman lidar system for remote sensing of sea and drifting ice was developed at the Wave Research Center at the Prokhorov General Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The developed system is based on a diode-pumped solid-state YVO4:Nd laser combined with a compact spectrograph equipped with a gated detector. The system exhibits high sensitivity and can be used for mapping or depth profiling of different parameters within many oceanographic problems. Light weight (similar to 20 kg) and low power consumption (300 W) make it possible to install the device on any vehicle, including unmanned aircraft or submarine systems. The Raman lidar presented was used for study and analysis of the different influence of the open sea and glaciers on water properties in Svalbard fjords. Temperature, phytoplankton, and dissolved organic matter distributions in the seawater were studied in the Ice Fjord, Van Mijen Fjord, and Rinders Fjord. Drifting ice and seawater in the Rinders Fjord were characterized by the Raman spectroscopy and fluorescence. It was found that the Paula Glacier strongly influences the water temperature and chlorophyll distributions in the Van Mijen Fjord and Rinders Fjord. Possible applications of compact lidar systems for express monitoring of seawater in places with high concentrations of floating ice or near cold streams in the Arctic Ocean are discussed. (C) 2012 Optical Society of America