Calibration and performance of a high spectral resolution lidar

High spectral resolution lidar systems measure atmospheric backscatter cross section, extinction cross section and depolarization without requiring poorly supported assumptions about the nature of atmospheric scattering or unstable inversion algorithms. System calibrations are independent of variations in atmospheric attenuation or window transmission. As a result, the accuracy of measurements are directly dependent the system calibration. This paper describes the calibration of the University of Wisconsin HSRL.