Laser Remote Sensing: Fundamentals and Applications

Over the past two decades, laser remote sensing of the earth and of its environment has been a rapidly growing field of research and application. A large community of scientists, including atmospheric physicists, oceanographers, and laser physicists, together with optical systems designers and electronics and system engineers, is presently involved in the development of various types of lidar systems, either ground based, mobile, or airborne, for applications in meteorology, environmental studies, atmospheric physics, and oceanography. This book, Laser Remote Sensing , is intended for all those who are interested in this research field and represents the first monograph entirely devoted to laser studies of the environment. It is also intended to be self‐contained: it reviews not only the broad spectrum of lidar applications but also the basic physics required for the understanding of interaction processes between radiation and matter and of laser fundamentals.