Atmospheric and Meteorological Lidar Backscatter lidar for aerosols and clouds

Atmospheric and meteorological lidar applications cover pollution in the first few kilometers of the atmosphere, meteorology in the troposphere and lower stratosphere up to an altitude of around 30 kilometers, and climate up to an altitude of around 50 kilometers, including the protective ozone layer. Lidars are in competition with other measurement methods, but it is the need for new information in the depths of the atmosphere that has imposed them for applications.

The variables of interest are the composition of air particles and minority gases (pollution, greenhouse effect, ozone layer), dynamic variables (wind fields) and thermodynamic variables (water vapor, temperature). Different lidar methods are used, depending on the scientific objectives.

This article deals with cloud aerosol backscatter lidars (LRAN). It follows on from [E 4 310] , which presents the basic principles and techniques of atmospheric and meteorological lidars. Lidars for measuring water vapor, ozone, gaseous pollutants, greenhouse gases and the wind field are covered in article [E 4 313] .

In the early 2000s, European lidar operators joined forces to form the aerosol-specific EARLINET network. From this starting point, it is clear that the development of networks on the one hand, and the advent of lidars in space on the other, have modified lidar practice and the structure of the community, which has moved from individual research to coordinated observations with rapid transmission of data to users. In the process, the skills of the lidar community have diversified. Some teams have retained their multidisciplinary expertise and capacity for innovation, while others have followed an applied approach, acquiring commercial instruments to focus on data utilization. Today, lidar data is used in the same way as any other freely available data on the Internet. In this context, it is important for users of lidar data to have access to the three articles proposed by Techniques de l'Ingénieur, [E 4 310], [E 4 313] , and this article...