The GV-HSRL provides real-time, calibrated vertical profiles along a single line of sight of various atmospheric parameters such as cloud optical depth, aerosol optical depth, backscatter coefficient, extinction coefficient, and particle depolarization (spherical irregularity). The HSRL technique uses an independent backscatter channel that observes only molecular scattering to act as a calibration target at each range bin. This allows the retrieval to remove effects of the instrument and atmospheric transmission in backscatter coefficient retrievals. The molecular backscatter is also leveraged to obtain an estimate of extinction. The primary data products for scientific use are listed below.
Variable | Unit | |
time |
s |
Seconds since start of file |
range |
m |
Range from instrument |
Aerosol_Backscatter_Coefficient |
1/(m sr) |
Calibrated measurement of aerosol/cloud backscatter coefficient |
Particle_Linear_Depolarization_Ratio |
Theoretically determined linear depolarization of particles (molecular removed). Depolarization is measured using circular polarizations and converted to the linear depolarization ratio assuming the volume consists of randomly oriented particles. |
|
Aerosol_Extinction_Coefficient |
1/m |
Aerosol extinction coefficient |
Optical_Depth |
Total optical depth from aircraft altitude |
|
Temperature |
K |
Ideal atmosphere temperature in K |
Pressure |
Pa |
Ideal atmosphere pressure in Pa |