Range

Maximum
The actual measurement range depends on the required time resolution for a given parameter. A default number of LIDAR profiles accumulated to detect processes in the upper layers of the troposphere (up to 20 km) will be set by LEOSPHERE and will be tunable by the user.

Minimum
The first measurement point is set as a standard at 75m but specific tuning can be asked. Full overlap can be reached as close as 150 m. It can even be corrected up to 300 m according to the principal needs.

Time resolution
Time resolution depends on the nature of the parameter, its position into the atmosphere, and the atmospheric conditions (aerosol load, presence of clouds, temperature). Also, the actual performance of the system regarding range correlated with integration time cannot be known until the system is tested under actual final atmospheric conditions.
Output Data
- Atmospheric backscatter light intensity (raw data)
- Solid angle and background calibrated data
- Vertical backscatter and extinction profile
- Vertical Aerosol profile
- Planetary Boundary Layer and residual layer heights
- Semi-transparent cloud height and top
- Optical depth integrated over whole Lidar range
- Dynamic structure of the atmosphere (e.g gravity waves...)
- Asphericity information on the particle in order to discriminate some particles from others (soil dust from other aerosol, ice/water phase of the clouds…)


Spatial resolution
The ALS300/450 answers to the following spatial constraints:

- 1.5 m in analog detection. However, when 15 m are sufficient, it is profitable to give up this constraint in order to save computer memory space and to improve the signal noise ratio.

- Between 30 m and 150 m in photon counting detection