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Abstract
EARLINET, the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network, is the first coordinated aerosol lidar network, established in 2000, with the main goal to provide a comprehensive, quantitative, and statistically significant data base for the aerosol distribution on a continental scale. At present, EARLINET consists of 25 lidar stations: 10 single backscatter lidar stations, 8 Raman lidar stations with the UV Raman channel for independent measurements of aerosol extinction and backscatter, and 7 multi-wavelength Raman lidar stations (elastic channel at 1064 nm, 532 nm, 355 nm, Raman channels at 532 nm and 355 nm, plus depolarization channel at 532 nm) for the retrieval of aerosol microphysical properties.
EARLINET data can contribute significantly to the quantification of aerosol concentrations, radiative properties, long-range transport and budget, and prediction of future trends on European and global scale. It can also contribute to improve model treatment on a wide range of scales and to a better exploitation of present and future satellite data.
EARLINET started correlative measurements for CALIPSO since June 2006. A strategy for correlative measurements has been defined on the base of the analysis of the high resolution ground track data provided by NASA.
The expected outcome from this study is a statistically significant data base of correlated measurements to be used for the validation and full exploitation of the CALIPSO mission and for supporting the continuous, harmonized observation of aerosol and clouds with active remote-sensing techniques from space over the next decade, including CALIPSO, ADM-Aeolus, and EarthCARE.