A water Raman extinction lidar system for detecting thin oil spills: preliminary results of field tests

A new FLS-UV lidar system using the extinction of the laser-induced water Raman signal for detecting thin oil slicks on the sea surface was employed. The system uses a solid state laser with frequency multiplication and an array of photomultipliers to measure oil film thicknesses in the 0.5?10 m range. The system was tested during two cruises of r/v "Oceania" in the southern Baltic in May and September 1997. The first experimental results are presented and the system's possibilities and limitations are discussed.