ARSET – LiDAR Profiling Satellite Observations for Air Quality Applications

June 4 & 11, 2025

10:00-11:30 (Session A) or 14:00-15:30 (Session B) EDT (UTC-4)

Active remote sensing observations, like those from LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging), can provide information on the vertical structure of atmospheric trace gases, aerosols, and clouds, complementing passive remote sensors. Lidars transmit laser pulses and measure laser light scattered back to determine the altitude of gases, aerosols, and clouds with high accuracy. This training introduces data-users to the fundamentals of lidar remote sensing, highlighting strengths, limitations and differences when compared to passive remote sensors. Case studies will be used to demonstrate how to interpret lidar imagery from a variety of past and current spaceborne lidars, including the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP), the Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS), the Ice, Cloud, and Elevation Satellite, version 2 (ICESat-2), and the Earth Cloud Aerosol Radiation Experiment (EarthCARE) and provide instruction on how to acquire lidar data for analysis by the user.