Earlinet Approach to Optimisation of Individual Network Instruments with the Aim of Homogenisation of Aerosol Data Products and Increased Data Coverage

The European Aerosol Research LIdar NETwork (EARLINET) is an aerosol lidar network on a continental scale. EARLINET is now a leading network in quality-controlled quantitative aerosol profiling performing a schedule of routine measurements and presently consists of 28 stations distributed over Europe. The construction of an un-biased spatio-temporal database of vertical profiles of aerosol optical properties on a regional scale for climate and air quality research is the main objective of EARLINET and is accomplished through application of Raman lidars. One of the tasks in the EC-funded project EARLINET-ASOS is to optimize individual instruments with the aim of homogenization of aerosol data products over the network and increased data coverage by automation. This task is approached by selection of optimal solutions existing in the pool of individual stations. This is done for components, subsystems as well as for system integration. In system integration emphasis lies on automation to reduce the amount of manpower needed, to improve temporal coverage, and to make performance independent from individual operators. The procedure to perform these tasks is outlined and the set of tools enabling the assessment of performance under development is described.