Two-wavelength lidar inversion algorithm.

Area of Science:

• Atmospheric optics
• Remote sensing
• Lidar technology

Background:

• Potter's method uses two-wavelength lidar to profile atmospheric aerosol extinction coefficients.
• Assumptions include constant extinction-to-backscatter ratio and wavelength ratio.
• Ackermann extended this to include molecular scattering, assuming it's known.

Purpose of the Study:

• Critically evaluate the fundamental principles of Potter's lidar method.
• Investigate the uniqueness of the solutions derived from Potter's method.
• Identify potential limitations and ambiguities in existing lidar profiling techniques.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of Bernoulli's differential equation solutions used in lidar data processing.
• Iterative scheme application with an unknown boundary transmission condition.
• Critical review of assumptions regarding extinction-to-backscatter ratios and wavelength dependencies.

Main Results:

• The study identifies reasons suggesting Potter's method may not yield a unique solution.
• The number of possible solutions for atmospheric aerosol profiles is potentially not limited to one.
• The boundary transmission condition is noted for its relative robustness against noise.

Conclusions:

• Potter's method, while foundational, may lead to multiple atmospheric aerosol extinction coefficient profiles.
• Further investigation is needed to refine lidar data inversion techniques.
• The assumption of a single solution needs re-evaluation for accurate atmospheric profiling.