Physical analysis and mathematical description are given of the factors conditioning the formation and the fluctuation statistics of the aerosol lidar signals. The considerations are based on the assumption of incoherent scattering from aerosol particles occupying the “scattering laser-pulse volume” having specific cross-section and length. The influence of the atmospheric refractive turbulence is also taken into account. Different types of statistics of the aerosol field and different design parameters of the lidar system are considered as well, as essential factors determining the fluctuation level and distribution. It is shown that the aerosol lidar signal fluctuations can indeed have nearly log-normal distribution, as is frequently assumed, under determinate environment and lidar-design conditions including the probability density distribution and the mean number and variance of the scattering aerosol particles, the temporal and spatial correlation characteristics of the aerosol concentration, the refractive turbulence intensity, the radii of and the distance between the scattering volume and the aperture of the lidar receiving optical system, etc. Thus, the modeling of aerosol lidar signals and the interpretation of aerosol lidar data may be based on the assumption of log-normal statistics of the signal fluctuations whose level is derived on the basis of reasonable physical concepts and determined by the above-indicated conditions and parameters of concern.

Date Published: 8 January 2015
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 9447, 18th International School on Quantum Electronics: Laser Physics and Applications, 94470S (8 January 2015); doi: 10.1117/12.2178247

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9447:
18th International School on Quantum Electronics: Laser Physics and Applications
Tanja Dreischuh; Sanka Gateva; Alexandros Serafetinides, Editor(s)