Temperature profiles of the ocean are of interest for weather forecasts, climate studies and oceanography in general. Currently, mostly in situ techniques such as fixed buoys or bathythermographs deliver oceanic temperature profiles. A LIDAR method based on Brillouin scattering is an attractive alternative for remote sensing of such water temperature profiles. It makes it possible to deliver cost-effective on-line data covering an extended region of the ocean. The temperature measurement is based on spontaneous Brillouin scattering in water. In this contribution, we present the first water temperature measurements using a Yb:doped pulsed fiber amplifier. The fiber amplifier is a custom designed device which can be operated in a vibrational environment while emitting narrow bandwidth laser pulses. The device shows promising performance and demonstrates the feasibility of this approach. Furthermore, the current status of the receiver is briefly discussed; it is based on an excited state Faraday anomalous dispersion optical filter.
Keywords: Brillouin scattering; LIDAR; ocean; remote sensing; temperature profile.