Ground‐Based and Airborne Lidar

Abstract Lidar remote sensing techniques can be applied to measure a wide variety of atmospheric parameters important in the hydrological sciences, including aerosol distribution, cloud properties, ozone and water vapor concentration, and wind fields. Lidar measurements make use of scattering and extinction of laser radiation in the atmosphere. Instruments are deployed on surface and aircraft platforms to investigate phenomena such as moisture spatial distribution and temporal evolution, ozone sources and transport, boundary‐layer height, aerosol distribution, cloud microphysics, and wind structure. New satellite‐based instruments enable lidar techniques to be applied on a global scale.