Abstract

Since lidar offers the advantage over passive remote sensing of unambiguously realizing the vertical structure of the atmosphere, there has been a strong interest in the development of lidar for atmospheric measurements. For the past several years a lidar system has been flown as an automated sensor on board high altitude experimental aircraft. The primary application for the lidar system has been cloud studies. Both experimental measurements related to the structure and development of severe storms and to the radiation characterization of clouds are important. The requirement for a lidar measurement from a high altitude aircraft stems from the necessity to operate above the highest clouds such as cumulonimbus.

© 1985 Optical Society of America