Atmospheric backscatter vertical profiles at 9.2 and 10.6 microns - A comparative study

The paper reports a series of atmospheric aerosol backscatter measurements at two widely spaced CO2 laser wavelengths: 9.25 and 10.6 microns. Comparisons are made between backscatter coefficient profiles at these two wavelengths up to 20-km altitude. Measurements such as those reported here can be used to assess the feasibility of coherent CO2 lidar for wind measurements, and they also provide a partial test of backscatter model predictions.