P1.1
Potential for lidar measurements of scattering coefficient profiles in thick clouds
Tamas Varnai, JCET/Univ. of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD; and R. F. Cahalan and A. Marshak
Our current ability for remotely measuring cloud internal structure is greatly limited by the fact that most lidars cannot gather information from inside optically thick clouds. The problem is that in thick clouds multiple scattering attenuates the lidar signal when photons emitted by the laser get scattered outside the receiver field of view. A recently developed group of lidars has overcome this problem by using multiple wide receiver field of views. For example the THOR (THickness from Offbeam Returns)lidar has been able to measure the geometrical thickness of clouds having optical thicknesses around 30. In this study we use theoretical simulations to explore the possibility of THOR also measuring the vertical profile of scattering coefficient in thick clouds.
Poster Session 1, Poster: Advances in Lidar Applications
Wednesday, 14 January 2009, 2:30 PM-4:00 PM, Hall 5
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