Lidar Observations of Slant Range Visibility for Aircraft Landing Operations,

During July 1972, a scanning ruby lidar was operated in support of the AFCRL fog field program at Vandenberg AFB, California. In addition to observations made during thermal fog dispersal tests, backscatter data were collected during 14 separate periods of dense natural fog. Values of slant visual range computed from these data are compared with information on the visibility conditions obtained from available AFCRL instrumentation. Although no detailed,quantitative evaluation of the lidar observation was feasible, the data comparison shows that the lidar provided visibility information compatible with that supplied by the more conventional measuring devices. Author