Optical and microphysical parameters of dense stratocumulus clouds during mission 206 of EUCREX '94 as retrieved from measurements made with the airborne lidar LEANDRE 1

Cloud parameters derived from measurements performed with the airborne back scatter lidar LEANDRE 1 during mission 206 of the EUCREX '94 campaign are r eported. A new method has been developed to retrieve the extinction coeffic ient at the top of the dense stratocumulus deck under scrutiny during this mission. The largest extinction values are found to be related to the highe st cloud top altitude revealing the small-scale structure of vertical motio ns within the stratocumulus field. Cloud optical depth (COD) is estimated f rom extinction retrievals, as well as cloud top and cloud base altitude usi ng nadir and zenith lidar observations, respectively. Lidar-derived CODs ar e compared with CODs deduced from radiometric measurements made onboard the French research aircraft Avion de Recherche Atmospherique et de Teledetect ion (ARAT/F27). A fair agreement is obtained (within 20%) for COD's larger than 10. Our results show the potential of lidar measurements to analyze cl oud properties at optical depths larger than 5. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B .V. All rights reserved.