The Shuttle Atmospheric Lidar Research Program is discussed in relation to an understanding of the processes governing the Earth's atmosphere and in the capacity to evaluate the atmospheric susceptibility to manmade and natural perturbations. Applications discussed are the determination of the global flow of water vapor and pollutants in the troposphere, improvement of chemical and transport models of the stratosphere and mesosphere, evaluation of radiative models of the atmosphere, investigation of chemistry and transport of thermospheric atomic species, and investigation of magnetospheric aspects of sun/weather relationships. The features discussed are the high spatial resolution, control of the source wavelength and intensity, and high measurement specificity.

Written by leading experts in optical radar, or lidar, this book brings all the recent practices up-to-date. With a Foreword by one of the founding fathers in the area. Its broad cross-disciplinary scope should appeal to scientists ranging from the view of optical sciences to environmental engineers. Optical remote sensing has matured to become a lead method for cross-disciplinary research. This new multi-authored book reviews the state-of-the-art in a readable monograph.

Contains an inventory of evaluation reports produced by and for selected Federal agencies, including GAO evaluation reports that relate to the programs of those agencies.