Camera Lidar Observations of Aerosols and Comparisons with Aerosol Optical Depth

A bistatic atmospheric camera lidar system consisting of a vertically transmitted continuous wave laser and a distantly located CCD camera detector is used to observe atmospheric aerosols by measuring the nighttime laser light scattering. The detector, consisting of a CCD camera fitted with wide angle optics and a laser line filter, images the entire transmitted laser beam from the side. The brightness at each pixel provides the side-scattered signal, and the altitude of the scatterer is determined from geometry rather than timing. As with traditional lidar, the signal is normalized to a molecular model at high altitudes and is transmission corrected. Side-scatter is converted to total scatter using an aerosol scattering phase function derived from AERONET data at the nearest available AERONET site. Aerosol extinction is calculated and integrated to derive aerosol optical depth. Results are compared to NASA MERRA2 and AERONET aerosol optical depth data.