Optical and microphysical parameters of dense stratocumulus clouds during mission 206 of EUCREX ʹ94 as retrieved from measurements made with the airborne lidar LEANDRE 1

Cloud parameters derived from measurements performed with the airborne backscatter lidar LEANDRE 1 during mission 206 of the EUCREX ʹ94 campaign are reported. A new method has been developed to retrieve the extinction coefficient at the top of the dense stratocumulus deck under scrutiny during this mission. The largest extinction values are found to be related to the highest cloud top altitude revealing the small-scale structure of vertical motions within the stratocumulus field. Cloud optical depth (COD) is estimated from extinction retrievals, as well as cloud top and cloud base altitude using nadir and zenith lidar observations, respectively. Lidar-derived CODs are compared with CODs deduced from radiometric measurements made onboard the French research aircraft Avion de Recherche Atmosphérique et de Télédétection (ARAT/F27). A fair agreement is obtained (within 20%) for CODʹs larger than 10. Our results show the potential of lidar measurements to analyze cloud properties at optical depths larger than 5.