Analysis developed for the existing global satellite lidar data from the NASA Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) on the Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICEsat) would be extended to data from the Cloudsat and Calipso Mission (CCM) lidar and other sensors. Operational problems of the ICEsat lasers have led to a high quality data set of only a few months duration rather than the required three to five years. The lead investigators of this proposal developed the science and analysis work for GLAS and would extend their studies in three areas of critical importance for climate research. The vertical distribution of aerosol extinction and aerosol absorption are the important parameters for the existing climate influence uncertainty of aerosol layers. An approach has been developed and tested to employ the analysis of satellite lidar surface returns from the oceans to directly measure the extinction optical depth of aerosol layers. In combination with satellite radiance measurements and aerosol transport model output, the aerosol single scattering albedo can potentially be retrieved. Polar cloud cover can be measured accurately and uniquely with satellite lidar data. Trends in polar cloud cover change would be studied by extending analysis between GLAS and the CCM data with a special emphasis to understanding blowing snow in Antarctica. Planetary boundary layer (PBL) height is a new input for global circulation models that can be provided by satellite lidar. A special data product and analysis developed for ICEsat is the specific retrieval of the PBL height and comparison to model output.
