Abstract

LITE is a three-wavelength backscatter lidar developed by NASA Langley Research Center which was flown on the STS-64 mission in September 1994. The instrument was operated between the latitudes of 57°N and 57°S during 10 days of the mission. The instrument was designed to study a wide range of cloud and aerosol phenomena and a comprehensive program of scientific investigations was conducted during the mission. The instrument has sufficient sensitivity to detect subvisible cirrus and boundary layer aerosols on a single-shot basis. Signal averaging provides the capability of observing the stratospheric aerosol layer and density profiles to an altitude of 40 km.

© 1995 Optical Society of America