Zhenzhu WANG^*, Dong LIU, Jun ZHOU, and Yingjian WANG

Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Composition and Optical Radiation, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 1125, Hefei 230031, Anhui, China

(Received January 4, 2009; Accepted July 9, 2009)

A ground-based polarization-Mie lidar has been developed to measure backscattering signals from the atmosphere and linear depolarization ratios at 532 nm. To retrieve depolarization properties of clouds and aerosols, the calibration factor (k) of two polarization channels at 532 nm must be calculated. In this paper three different experimental methods are presented to determine the calibration factor (k) in this polarization-Mie lidar. Some measured examples are presented and discussed. Experimental and validated results indicate these methods are feasible.

Key words: calibration factor, depolarization ratio, polarization-Mie lidar, CALIPSO

^*E-mail address: zzwang@aiofm.ac.cn