Coherent laser radar performance in littoral environments—a statistical analysis based on weather observations

Laser radar, like other electro-optic sensors being used in the marine environment, can be strongly affected by atmospheric conditions. We calculate statistical distributions of coherent laser radar performance based on an extensive set of observed weather conditions for several littoral locations at selected wavelengths from 1 to 10 µm. The analysis shows that the best performance can generally be achieved in the mid-IR wavelength region around 3.8 µm. This wavelength region is less affected by aerosol scattering and atmospheric turbulence compared to the near iR and also less affected by water vapor absorption compared to the long-IR band.