LIDAR DATA INVERSION FOR CIRRUS CLOUDS - AN APPROACH BASED ON A STATISTICAL-ANALYSIS OF IN-SITU MICROPHYSICAL MEASUREMENTS

The problem of the lidar equation inversion lies in the fact that it requires a lidar calibration or else a reference value from the studied medium. This paper presents an approach to calibrate the lidar by calculating the constant Ak (lidar constant A multiplied by the ratio of backscatter coefficient to extinction coefficient k). This approach is based on statistical analysis of in situ measurements. This analysis demonstrates that the extinction coefficient has a typical probability distribution in cirrus clouds. The property of this distribution, as far as the attenuation of laser beam in the cloud, is used as a constraint to calculate the value of Ak. The validity of this method is discussed and results compared with two other inversion methods.