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Consideration is given to a novel inversion algorithm to determine the aerosol size distribution from lidar signals obtained at several wavelengths. This algorithm is based on a nonlinear fit of the backscattered measurements using a set of predetermined functions. Size distribution profiles of tropospheric aerosols in different meteorological conditions - clear, hazy, and cloudy atmosphere - are determined on the basis of lidar measurements made in central Switzerland, which is characterized by a specific microclimate. Measurements of stratospheric clouds and aerosols created by the Pinatubo eruption were measured above Berlin and Sodankyla, Finland. These measurements are used to characterize the size distribution of these volcanic aerosols in order to estimate their influence on radiative transfer.

Since January 1988 an Italian backscattering Lidar has been operating in Antarctica, at the Italian base of Terra Nova Bay during the summer 1988 and now at the French base of Dumont d’Urville. The system was built by the research group of IROE of CNR, within a broad research program on atmospheric studies carried out by the Italian National Program for Antarctic Research. Among the principal objectives of this program are to contribute understanding of the Ozone Hole problem and to characterize the radiative properties of clouds by means of Lidar, IR radiometry, local meteorological data and satellite data, in order to better understand the role of clouds in the radiative budget of the planet. A complex DIAL system, to carry out ozone concentration measurements in the Ozone Hole, is presently being built under the Italian-French cooperative program for Antarctica, while an automated Nd-YAG diode pumped Lidar is being designed to operate semiautomatically in an Antarctic winter base, maybe at Dome C, which will be located on the Antarctic Plateau, at 3250 meters altitude.