Synergy of lidar and passive remote sensor data for retrieving profiles of microphysical properties of non-spherical particles

Abstract

In this study we explore how the combination of 3 backscatter and 2 extinction lidar data with data that can be collected with ground-based and space-borne passive remote sensors, e.g. phase function coefficients which can be derived at various measurement wavelengths and scattering angles can result in improved profiles of particle microphysical properties. The algorithm is based on a light-scattering model that uses a mixture of spheres and randomly oriented spheroids.