“…Generally, the two unknowns of this equation, the backscatter and extinction coefficients, have to be related using either empirical or theoretical methods in order to be able to invert the lidar equation. There have been many discussions regarding the solutions of the lidar (e.g., Barrett and Ben-Dov, 1967;Viezee et al, 1969;Davis, 1969;Fernald, 1972;Platt, 1973Platt, , 1979Klett, 1981;Fernald, 1984;Flamant, 1996, andAnsmann et al, 1992). Forward solution of the backscatter coefficient was found to become rapidly unstable for optical depths greater than unity, unless the lidar ratio was specified with extreme accuracy (Platt, 1979).…”