Review of Inversion Techniques for Spaceborne Lidar Systems

摘要

An examination of inversion techniques applicable for a spaceborne lidar system has been made. The purpose has been to recommend a technique that could be used with the lidar system under development by AFGL. In a Rayleigh atmosphere with no or minimal gaseous absorption, a power law relationship between backscattering and extinction exists in which k=1. In an atmosphere with aerosols and clouds, the assumption of a power law relationship is tenuous at best. An examination of the literature leads us to conclude that the power law relationship has no physical basis to support its extensive use. For any application probing different regions of the atmosphere and different types of aerosols, one cannot assume a single set of power law parameters for the entire atmosphere.