Spaceborne lidar remote sensing techniques aided by surface returns

This paper describes approaches for using the strong return signals from ground/sea reflections to improve upon the information that can be retrieved from spaceborne lidar observations. Relations are presented for computing lidar ground/sea returns, and examples are given for representative lidar parameters and surface characteristics. Various methods are outlined for obtaining information about atmospheric transmittance, surface reflectance, and aerosol/cloud features from lidar ground/sea returns. Techniques for retrieving aerosol extinction profiles from atmospheric lidar returns are also presented, including retrieval examples.