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Abstract
Clouds and aerosols influence the Earth¡¯s radiation budget by scattering incoming solar radiation back to space and absorbing outgoing thermal radiation. Contrary to the previously launched passive sensors, space-based backscatter lidar Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) onboard Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) provides information on the vertical distribution of aerosols and clouds as well as on their optical and physical properties over the globe with unprecedented spatial resolution. Two-wavelength polarization lidar CALIOP also provides qualitative information on size, shape as well as aerosol observations in new places: above clouds, in the Polar Regions. In addition, combination of observations from CALIPSO with data from the A-train constellation (e.g., CloudSat Cloud Profiling Radar, MODIS) will make possible numerous synergies involving these new remote sensing techniques.
This talk will present (1) initial validation results of space-borne lidar CALIOP profiles by comparing space and time coincidental measurements collected by a ground-based 2-wavelenght polarization lidar system in Seoul, South Korea, (2) intercomparison of cloud top and bottom heights (CTH and CBH) obtained from a space-borne active sensor Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR), CALIOP, the space-borne passive sensor MODIS, and ground-based lidar measurements, and (3) comparison of cirrus optical depth retrieved from CALIOP, ground-based lidar and MODIS.