Improvement on lidar data processing for stratospheric aerosol measurements

Abstract

For lidar measurements of stratospheric aerosols; signal-induced noise (SIN) from a photomultiplier (PMT) has been a problem of particular interest. In this paper, we succeed in simulating lidar signals affected by the PMT, after finding a long tail with a decay time of ~200 micros in the PMT's response to an impulselike light exposure. The PMT studied was an RCA 8852. Computer simulation quantitatively revealed that the SIN caused by the delayed response became greater than the real signal at high altitudes. Based on the results of simulation, a proposal was made to find a practical method for identifying and removing the SIN from the actual lidar signals. In addition, an improved method for the lidar signal calibration was proposed by taking into account the systematic noise component, including background light as well as SIN, in formulating the clean air calibration (the matching method). Validity of the proposed methods was demonstrated by using them both with an actual lidar signal and a simulated lidar signal with SIN.