干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

Laser remote sensing of the Earth from space offers many unique capabilities stemming from the unique properties of lasers. Lidars make possible three-dimensional characterizations that enable new scientific understanding of the natural processes that shape the planet's oceans, surface, and atmosphere. However, the challenges to further expand on these successes remain complex. Operation of lidars from space is limited in part by the relatively low power available to the lasers, the low signal scattered back to the instrument because of the large distance to the surface, and the need for reliable and autonomous operation because of the significant investment required for satellites. The instrument complexities are compounded by the diversity in the Earth scenes as well as the variability in albedo from cloud, ice, vegetation, desert, or ocean, combined with the highly variable transmission of the laser beam through clouds, forest canopy, or ocean surface and near-surface. This paper will discuss the development of a new approach to space-based lidars that uses adaptive instrument techniques to dramatically enhance the capability of space-based lidars.