Advances in lidar applications

Quantitative laser remote sensing (lidar) measurements have always posed a challenge for the research community. The complexity of the data inversion and the instrumentation itself makes lidar results difficult to interpret.;This dissertation presents a suite of 3 elastic lidar experiments. The goal of these studies was to quantitatively approach atmospheric physical phenomena such as rainfall (chapter 3), a distribution of concentration of particulates in Mexico City (chapter 4) and emission rates and emission factors from an agricultural facility in Iowa (chapter 5). The studies demonstrate that elastic lidar measurements are possible not only in a qualitative sense but also in a quantitative sense.;The lidar study of rainfall was intended to provide rainfall data in small spatial and temporal scales (1.5m and 1s resolution). The two levels of lidar inversion algorithms allowed the calculation of rainfall rates in small scales.;The problem of the distribution of particles over Mexico City required mobile lidar measurements. The elastic lidar data were successfully inverted to extinction coefficients which were then combined with aerosol size distribution. As a result, a spatial distribution of particulate concentration was created to illustrate the transport processes and intensity of Mexico City pollution.;The measurements of particulate emission fluxes from a livestock facility involved a stationary scanning elastic lidar, in-situ aerosol size distribution measurements and wind measurements. The data from the 3 independent measurement platforms combined together resulted in emission rates and emission factors. The results from this experiment demonstrated that the new lidar approach is an adequate tool for measurement of aerosol emissions from livestock production facilities.;The studies presented in the dissertation show quantitative lidar measurements in combination with other instruments measurements. This approach significantly extends the applications of the lidar technique and also opens new capabilities for elastic lidar systems.