Model of lidar return from remote aerosol formation

Although the fact that lidars are used more than half a century, so many of the technical and methodological problem of the laser sensing has not been resolved. Laser sensing of optically dense aerosol formations (such as clouds or fog) belongs to the need of careful study. This is because the lidar signal from such formations is due not only single, but also multiple scattering, which significantly affects both the intensity value and the state of polarization of the received radiation. We have obtained an analytical expression for the time delay of the lidar return from the cloud layer due to multiple scattering. It is shown that the value of this lidar return is determined by the lower boundary, the microstructure and the thickness of the cloud layer, and a field-of-view of lidar receiving system.