Improvement of Aerosol Extinction Profiles from Raman Lidar

^(a) Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung Telegrafenberg A45, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
^(b) Universität Potsdam Am Neuen Palais 10, 14469 Potsdam, Germany This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Published online: 9 April 2026

Abstract

In this work, we revise the precise retrieval of extinction from Raman Lidar data. This is traditionally challenging, as the derivative of a function with height-increasing noise is sought. Hence, we apply different regularization techniques for an example of the N2 387 nm profile in the Arctic under daylight conditions. Due to the decreasing lidar data quality, we split the retrieval into different intervals. This allows each interval to be smoothed individually. Although the final extinction profile depends on the chosen method, the interval selection and numerical parameters, we show that a trustful solution can be obtained even in altitudes in which a non-regularized solution will fail.