Effects of misestimated far-end boundary values on two common lidar inversion solutions

Area of Science:

• Atmospheric Science
• Optical Remote Sensing

Background:

• Lidar (light detection and ranging) solutions, including Klett and Fernald approaches, are affected by boundary value errors.
• Understanding these errors is crucial for accurate atmospheric profiling.

Purpose of the Study:

• To formulate the impact of boundary value errors on lidar equation solutions.
• To simplify and unify lidar inversion error expressions using a modified extinction coefficient.

Main Methods:

• Development of a modified extinction coefficient.
• Formulation of a unified error expression for lidar inversion.
• Numerical experiments to validate the unified error expression and compare Klett and Fernald solutions.

Main Results:

• A unified error expression for lidar inversion solutions was derived.
• Overestimation of the boundary value leads to a more rapid decrease in discrepancy near the lidar compared to underestimation.
• The Fernald solution shows faster error convergence than the Klett solution, though Fernald's convergence can be oscillatory, while Klett's is monotonic.

Conclusions:

• The modified extinction coefficient effectively unifies lidar inversion error analysis.
• The study provides insights into error behavior based on boundary value estimation and chosen lidar solution method.
• Findings aid in selecting appropriate lidar inversion techniques for specific atmospheric conditions.