Abstract

A method is presented that permits the determination of the cloud effective particle size from Raman- or Rayleigh-integration temperature measurements that exploits the dependence of the multiple-scattering contributions to the lidar signals from heights above the cloud on the particle size of the cloud. Independent temperature information is needed for the determination of size. By use of Raman-integration temperatures, the technique is applied to cirrus measurements. The magnitude of the multiple-scattering effect and the above-cloud lidar signal strength limit the method's range of applicability to cirrus optical depths from 0.1 to 0.5. Our work implies that records of stratosphere temperature obtained with lidar may be affected by multiple scattering in clouds up to heights of 30 km and beyond.

© 2006 Optical Society of America

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