Lidar equation for ocean surface and subsurface

Date

2010-10-12

Department

Program

Citation of Original Publication

Damien Josset, Peng-Wang Zhai, Yongxiang Hu, Jacques Pelon, and Patricia L. Lucker, "Lidar equation for ocean surface and subsurface," Opt. Express 18(20) (27 September 2010) 20862-20875. https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.18.020862.

Rights

This work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.
Public Domain Mark 1.0

Subjects

Abstract

The lidar equation for ocean at optical wavelengths including subsurface signals is revisited using the recent work of the radiative transfer and ocean color community for passive measurements. The previous form of the specular and subsurface echo term are corrected from their heritage, which originated from passive remote sensing of whitecaps, and is improved for more accurate use in future lidar research. A corrected expression for specular and subsurface lidar return is presented. The previous formalism does not correctly address angular dependency of specular lidar return and overestimates the subsurface term by a factor ranging from 89% to 194% for a nadir pointing lidar. Suggestions for future improvements to the lidar equation are also presented.