LITE VALIDATION EXPERIMENT ALONG CALIFORNIA COAST - PRELIMINARY-RESULTS

The Lidar In-Space Technology Experiment (LITE) was launched aboard th e Space Shuttle Discovery on September 9, 1994. It employed a three-wa velength Nd:YAG lidar system. The validation of LITE involved ground t ruth experiments which were carried out by over 50 international group s consisting of both airborne and ground-based lidar platforms. Our ex periment involved the operation of an airborne Nd:YAG lidar system, at the fundamental wavelength of 1064 nm, aboard National Research Counc il's Convair 580 (CV580) aircraft, operating in a nadir orientation. T wo night tracks aligned with orbital tracks over California's coast pr ovided an interesting study. First, comparisons with preliminary LITE data and CV580 results will illustrate the transport of urban aerosols from Los Angeles and San Francisco. Secondly, a correlative study of cloud top heights, obtained from a marine stratus cloud deck off the c oast of California showed agreement with the 10s averaged LITE data of +/-50m.