Abstract

The optical properties of the atmospheric 8-12 μm window region are of importance both from the standpoint of the design of lidar operating in this region and from general radiative transfer considerations. At the present time there is a scarcity of data relating to the radiative properties of the desert aerosol in this spectral region. With this in mind, an incoherent CO₂ lidar system is being developed to obtain measurements of atmospheric transmission and volume backscattering cross sections using the slant path technique which has been developed at the University of Arizona.