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<p>During the 2017 Ozone Water Land Environmental Transition Study (OWLETS), the Langley mobile ozone lidar system utilized a new small diameter receiver to improve the retrieval of near-surface signals from 0.1 to 1&thinsp;km in altitude. This new receiver utilizes a single 90&thinsp;<span class="inline-formula">^∘</span> fiber-coupled, off-axis parabolic mirror resulting in a compact form that is easy to align. The single reflective surface offers the opportunity to easily expand its use to multiple wavelengths for additional measurement channels such as visible wavelength aerosol measurements. Detailed results compare the performance of the receiver to both ozonesonde and in situ measurements from a UAV platform, validating the performance of the near-surface ozone retrievals. Absolute <span class="inline-formula">O₃</span> differences averaged 7&thinsp;% between lidar and ozonesonde data from 0.1 to 1.0&thinsp;km and yielded a 2.3&thinsp;% high bias in the lidar data, well within the uncertainty of the sonde measurements. Conversely, lidar <span class="inline-formula">O₃</span> measurements from 0.1 to 0.2&thinsp;km averaged 10.5&thinsp;% lower than coincident UAV <span class="inline-formula">O₃</span>. A more detailed study under more stable atmospheric conditions would be necessary to resolve the residual instrument differences reported in this work. Nevertheless, this unique added capability is a significant improvement allowing for near-surface observation of ozone.</p>