MEASUREMENTS OF STRATOSPHERIC AEROSOLS WITH A COMBINED ELASTIC RAMAN-BACKSCATTER LIDAR

Improvements made to the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Stratospheri c Ozone Lidar system have extended its atmospheric-aerosol-measuring c apabilities. The methods by which aerosol-scattering ratio, aerosol ba ckscatter, and aerosol extinction are simultaneously derived from lida r data are reported, and results obtained during several intercomparis on campaigns at worldwide locations are shown. The results track the e volution of the Mt. Pinatubo aerosol cloud from 1991 to 1994 and repor t wavelength-dependence information for aerosol backscatter between 30 8 and 351 nm. Two analysis techniques, a more common inversion method and a combined elastic-Raman-backscatter approach, are also compared. (C) 1995 Optical Society of America