Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2012) 127: 92
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2012-12092-0

Regular Article

Atmospheric monitoring with LIDARs at the Pierre Auger Observatory

¹ CETEMPS and INFN, Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche e Chimiche, Università Degli Studi dell’Aquila, via Vetoio, I-67010, L’Aquila, Italy
² Sezione di L’Aquila, INFN, via Vetoio, I-67010, L’Aquila, Italy
³ Sezione di Torino, Università degli Studi di Torino and INFN, Via Pietro Giuria, 1, I-10125, Torino, Italy
⁴ Observatorio Pierre Auger, Av. San Martín Norte 304, 5613, Malargüe, Argentina

^* e-mail: vincenzo.rizi@aquila.infn.it

Received: 27 July 2012
Accepted: 27 July 2012
Published online: 28 August 2012

Abstract

One of the techniques adopted by the Pierre Auger Observatory to detect ultra high energy cosmic rays is based on air fluorescence detection. The knowledge of atmospheric properties during data acquisition is of primary importance. Together with other instruments, a system of four steerable elastic LIDARs, currently in operation, and a Raman LIDAR, that has taken data for about one year, provide measurements of the cloud coverage and of the aerosol optical transmission. This paper describes the hardware designs, the operational procedures, and the analyses performed on the collected data: aerosol optical properties and their vertical distributions.