Investigation of multiple scattering processes resolved in clouds using a flash lidar

The Topographic Mapping Flash Lidar (TMFL) instrument developed at Ball Aerospace has been used to investigate the phenomenon of multiple scattering of the lidar signal inside a medium such as a water cloud. This behavior has been observed during a recent flight of the instrument aboard a Twin Otter aircraft flying over a steam plume. TMFL illuminates a line that extends across-track, and signal was observed off-axis over multiple pixels of the flash focal plane array. Thus the multiple scattering intensities are spatially sub-sampled, in addition to obtaining range resolutions. Variation of scattering strengths with off-axis distance is compared to those predicted by atmospheric models. It has been hypothesized that multiple scattering effects could account for a major source of error for space-based lidars such as CALIPSO, which samples atmospheric backscatter over a column. However, the physics behind multiple scattering is not well -understood and thus the effect cannot be sufficiently characterized to improve the error bars. The spatial resolution TMFL therefore provides a tool to quantify the effects of the processes of multiple scattering in lidar instrument signal. In addition, TMFL has recorded returns from the surface of a lake, and the strength of water surface returns can be correlated to the roughness of the water. That in turn can be tied to aerosol concentrations near the water surface.