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Abstract
This study presents initial validation results of space borne lidar CALIOP (Hostetler et al., 2006) profiles using co-located in time and space measurements by the ground-based Raman lidar operating at the Physics Department of the University of Salento (40°20’N, 18°6’E), in the framework of the EARLINET-ASOS project (Mattis et al. 2007). In particular CALIPSO level-2 total backscatter coefficient profiles at 532 nm wavelength are compared to corresponding profile retrieved at Lecce by the Raman-lidar technique. The validation has the aim to compare space and ground borne lidar vertical profiles during different atmospheric conditions e.g. aerosol layer structures under free clouds, cirrus clouds or thick tropospheric clouds conditions. Most of cases used for this study regard nighttimes CALIPSO overpasses when ground based Raman measurements let to independently obtain extinction and backscatter coefficient profiles. The ratio of these last quantities (Lidar Ratio) is an intensive aerosol optical property that is just assumed from a scenario classification by CALIOP algorithms to calculate the extinction coefficient profiles.