Vol. 10, issue 04-05, article # 10

Abstract:

The first results on laser sensing of cloud fields and of the underlying surface, obtained with the use of the Russian orbital rangefinders and the Balkan lidar placed on board the Spectr module of the Mir space station, are analyzed. It is demonstrated that the multiple scattering contribution should be considered in the interpretation of signals reflected from clouds. The contribution from scattering of different order to signals of the Balkan lidar is estimated by the Monte-Carlo method. It is shown that the single-scattering approximation of the lidar equation is valid only for optical thicknesses no more than 0.5. The field experiments have supported the high accuracy (0.7 m) of measuring distances to clouds and underlying surface as well as the feasibility of determining the optical cloud characteristics at the cloud top and the characteristics of the underlying surface.