Methods of analysis of atmospheric aerosols from future spaceborne high spectral resolution lidar data

The limitations of single wavelength elastic scatter lidar with regard to retrieving various optical or microphysical properties of the observed aerosols are well known. Typical retrieval methodologies rely on elastic scatter information at at least two wavelengths, together with either temporally or geographically inferred estimates of the extinction-to-back-scatter ratio S_a, or aerosol model parameters which constrain the solution in such a way as to be consistent with the optical properties of commonly observed aerosol types. High spectral resolution lidars (HSRL) now facilitate unambiguous, direct measurement of aerosol extinction and backscatter profiles, greatly augmenting the level of information available for determining aerosol type or other relevant parameters. In this paper, we explore a methodology for using HSRL data at one wavelength to facilitate retrievals from traditional elastic scatter data at other wavelengths. Further, we extend the scope of the technique to improving aerosol models used to constrain retrievals from multi-wavelength elastic scatter lidars. We explore this methodology in the context of currently available HSRL technology as well as anticipated future spaceborne HSRL systems.