New Technique to Retrieve Tropospheric Temperature Using Vibrational and Rotational Raman Backscattering

A new technique is advanced to obtain tropospheric temperature profile using vibrational Raman (VR) and rotational Raman (RR) backscattering. The proposed technique can obtain tropospheric temperature and decrease retrieval errors caused by insufficient suppression of the Mie backscattering in the RR detection channels. The retrieval equations are obtained using VR and RR lidar equations. The feasibility of this technique is demonstrated by applying the algorithm to the Hampton University VR and RR lidar signals. Intercomparisons of these atmospheric temperature retrievals from the Hampton University lidar show good agreement with local radiosonde measurements. Moreover, the proposed technique is applied to a cloudy case and is further validated by showing the good agreements with radiosonde measurements of cloud temperature.