Coherent return turbulent fluctuations in ground lidar systems profiling along slant paths

Abstract

The simulation of beam propagation is used to study the process of optical power measurement with a heterodyne lidar in the presence of atmospheric turbulence. The inherent statistic uncertainty of coherent return fluctuations have been estimated for ground lidar systems profiling the atmosphere along slant paths with large elevation angles. Our approach makes possible to consider realistic, non-uniform atmospheric conditions for any practical instrument configuration.