Abstract

The height profiles of the aerosol extinction coefficient (from the nitrogen or oxygen Raman signal profile, Ref. 1) and the aerosol backscatter coefficient (from the elastic-backscatter- to-Raman signal ratio, Ref. 2) can be determined independently from each other using a combined Raman elastic-backscatter lidar. The systematic and statistical errors are smaller than 20 % in regions of strong particle scattering such as the boundary layer or clouds (Ref. 3). Therefore a combined lidar allows the validation of solutions for the extinction and backscatter coefficients obtained with the Klett method (Ref. 4) from the elastic backscatter signal alone.

© 1991 Optical Society of America