Ocean backscatter profiling using high-spectral-resolution lidar and a perturbation retrieval

Abstract

Ocean lidar attenuation and scattering parameters were derived from a high-spectralresolution lidar (HSRL) using two different retrieval techniques. The first used the standard HSRL retrieval, and the second used only the total backscatter channel and a perturbation retrieval (PR). The motivation is to evaluate differences between the two techniques that would affect the decision of whether to use a simple backscatter lidar or a more complex HSRL in future applications. For the data set investigated, the attenuation coefficient from the PR was an average of 11% lower than that from the HSRL. The PR estimate of the scattering parameter decreased with depth relative to the HSRL estimate, although the overall bias was zero as a result of the calibration procedure. Near the surface, the coefficient of variability in both estimates of attenuation and in HSRL estimates of scattering were around 5%, but that in the PR estimate of scattering was over 10%. At greater depths, the variability increases for all of the profile parameters. The correlation between the two estimates of attenuation coefficient was 0.7. The correlation between scattering parameters was > 0.8 near the surface, but decreased to 0.4 at a depth of around 20 m. Overall, the PR performed better relative to the HSRL in offshore waters than in nearshore waters.