Bistatic LIDAR: A Tool for Characterizing Atmospheric Particulates: Part II---The Inverse Problem

The inverse problem of deducing atmospheric particulate properties from bistatic LIDAR angular scattering measurements is investigated, and certain scattering functions are identified as being particularly sensitive to particle size and/or particle refractive index. Methods are presented for retrieving the particle size distribution and refractive index from these scattering functions. Examples are also given of retrievals of particle size distribution and refractive index obtained from actual bistatic LIDAR data.