Spaceborne Doppler lidar perspectives

Lidar technology and applications are well-established (Kirchbaumer et al. 1993). A backscatter lidar technology experiment was tested in space in 1994 (Winker et al. 1994). Scientists need global information on wind, clouds, and aerosol layers. On a space-borne platform, only a limited amount of power is available for a lidar system. Therefore, a compromise is necessary between the possibilities and the requirements.