Wide-Angle Imaging Lidar (WAIL): theory of operation, cross-platform validation, and potential applications

Igor N. Polonsky; Anthony B. Davis; Steven P. Love

doi:10.1117/12.581343

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12 January 2005 Wide-Angle Imaging Lidar (WAIL): theory of operation, cross-platform validation, and potential applications

Igor N. Polonsky, Anthony B. Davis, Steven P. Love

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Proceedings Volume 5653, Lidar Remote Sensing for Industry and Environmental Monitoring V; (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.581343
Event: Fourth International Asia-Pacific Environmental Remote Sensing Symposium 2004: Remote Sensing of the Atmosphere, Ocean, Environment, and Space, 2004, Honolulu, Hawai'i, United States

Abstract

The Wide-Angle Imaging Lidar (WAIL), a new instrument that measures cloud optical and geometrical properties by means of off-beam lidar returns, was deployed as part of a multi-instrument campaign to probe a cloud field at ARM (Atmospheric Radiation Measurement) Southern Great Plain (SGP) site on March 25, 2002. WAIL is designed to determine physical and geometrical characteristics using the off-beam component of the lidar return that can be adequately modeled within the diffusion approximation. Using WAIL data, we estimate the extinction coefficient and geometrical thickness of a dense cloud layer; from there, we infer optical thickness. Results from the new methodology agree well with counterparts obtained from other instruments located permanently at the SGP ARM site and from the WAIL-like airborne instrument that flew over the site during our observation period.

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Igor N. Polonsky, Anthony B. Davis, and Steven P. Love "Wide-Angle Imaging Lidar (WAIL): theory of operation, cross-platform validation, and potential applications", Proc. SPIE 5653, Lidar Remote Sensing for Industry and Environmental Monitoring V, (12 January 2005); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.581343

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