Sensitivity of Aerosol Extinction Retrievals from Camera Lidar to Aerosol Phase Functions

Aerosol scattering phase functions show how aerosols scatter light in different directions at a particular location. They play a vital role in atmospheric studies and in Camera Lidar studies for computing Aerosol Extinction profiles and Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD). Calculating extinction profiles and AOD indicates to what extent aerosols are present in the atmosphere. The novel bistatic CCD Camera Lidar (CLidar) system provides for a cost-effective method for locally computing aerosol extinction at lower altitudes. Camera Lidar transmits a laser beam into the atmosphere and measures the side scatter returned off air molecules and aerosols at a scattering angle that varies with altitude. Converting this measurement to the traditional aerosol extinction measurement requires assumption of an aerosol phase function. A sensitivity study was conducted to illuminate the variation in retrieved aerosol extinction from camera lidar data when different phase functions were assumed. Results will allow for improvement in future work.