The results of complex lidar-actinometric experiments to study of the optical properties of high-level clouds (HLCs) and their effect on the solar radiation fluxes measured near the Earth's surface are described. Optical, microphysical (orientation of ice particles), and geometric characteristics of natural and anthropogenic (contrails) HLCs are estimated according to the data on polarization laser sensing. It is shown that the crystal orientation in cirrus affects significantly the transmission of short-wave solar radiation.
Results of the experiments on laser polarization sensing of high-level clouds with anomalous backscattering (specular clouds) performed with the high-altitude polarization lidar developed at National Research Tomsk State University (NR TSU) with a short lidar return accumulation time (about 3 minutes) are described. It has been shown that the preferred horizontal orientation of ice crystals in clouds is manifested even at such a short signal accumulation time intervals. Interpretation of the results of the experiment with longer accumulation leads to the identification of a cloud as a specular one despite the presence of not only a specular, but also non-specular local areas in it.
Results of the experiments on polarization laser sensing of aircraft contrails performed with the lidar developed at the National Research Tomsk State University are described. The altitudes of the lower and upper borders, backscattering phase matrices, optical thickness, and scattering ratios of the observed aerosol formations are determined. Microstructure parameters of the contrails are estimated by comparing the elements of backscattering phase matrices not only obtained from lidar experiments, but also calculated theoretically. The meteorological conditions for the formation of the preferred horizontal spatial orientation of ice crystals in contrails are established.
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