Chemical Composition of the Atmosphere

Abstract

Measurements of aerosols are urgently required for understanding and modeling their role in the climate system and for investigating interactions between aerosols, clouds and radiation. Lidar (light detection and ranging) is an active remote sensing method for aerosol analysis which provides range resolved information. In this paper the different aerosol properties—geometrical, optical and microphysical—that can be derived from lidars are briefly described. In particular, the role of the so-called lidar ratio is discussed.