title: Numerical simulation of the effect of refractive turbulence on coherent lidar return statistics in the atmosphere.
abstract: We propose an algorithm and the results of a numerical study of random realizations and statistics of a pulsed coherent lidar return that allow for refractive turbulence. We show that, under conditions of refractive turbulence, the relative variance of the lidar return power can exceed unity by a factor of as much as 1.5. Clear manifestations of the turbulent effect of backscattering amplification have been revealed from simulations of space-based lidar sensing of the atmosphere with coherent lidar. Under conditions of strong optical turbulence in the atmospheric boundary layer, as a result of the backscattering amplification effect, the mean lidar return power can exceed the return power in the absence of turbulence by a factor of 3.
authors: Institute of Atmospheric Optics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Prospekt Akademicheskii 1, Tomsk 634055, Russia. banakh@iao.ru
authors: V A
authors: VA
authors: Banakh
authors: I N
authors: IN
authors: Smalikho
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Werner