Sensitivity of the backscatter/extinction ratio to changes in aerosol properties: implications for lidar

The lidar ratio is found to be sensitive in three distinct regions in a space defined by index of refraction and particle size. This implies that inversion of the lidar equation will be complicated if the parameters of the aerosol under study fall into one of these sensitive regions. The model used to explore this space covers the complex plane of refractive index bounded by real part 1-2 and imaginary part 0-infinity and mode particle size parameter bounded by 0.03-3000. Furthermore, the model is compared to a literature survey of lidar ratios.