11:45–12:00 | ABSTRACT 1170
AN END-TO-END RADIATIVE TRANSFER SIMULATOR FOR OCEAN LIDAR: APPLICATIONS TO FUTURE SPACE MISSIONS
Since its origin as a ground-based remote sensing technique, lidar has become increasingly important in spaceborne Earth observation. While historically focused on atmospheric studies, missions such as CALIPSO and ICESat-2 have demonstrated its strong potential for ocean applications. Lidar enables retrieval of key Ocean Color products—such as attenuation, particulate backscattering, phytoplankton absorption, and chlorophyll-a fluorescence—under day and night conditions, across seasons, and even in low-visibility environments, while also providing vertical profiles. These capabilities are essential for addressing critical scientific questions, including the detection of subsurface chlorophyll maxima and improving the understanding of regional ocean ecology, which is vital for studying ocean dynamics in a changing climate. This research focuses on the development of an end-to-end simulator for oceanic lidar applications, supporting future missions such as ASI-NASA LUCE and studies like ESA OLiS. The simulator builds upon the SCIATRAN radiative transfer model, which includes full atmosphere–ocean vectorial coupling and accounts for inelastic processes such as Raman scattering and fluorescence. In addition to the existing background module, the possibility of simulating elastic and inelastic lidar signal through atmosphere, surface, and ocean was included. Initial results under single-scattering approximation indicate that elastic lidar can probe depths approaching 100 m under favorable conditions, enabling the unprecedented reconstruction of vertical particulate distributions, while combined elastic and inelastic measurements can provide insights into phytoplankton distribution and physiology. A semi-analytic Monte Carlo approach is currently under development to better model light interaction in water, which is mainly characterized by multiple scattering.
Lorenza Masi*, Parthenope University of Naples, National Research Council – Institute of Marine Sciences, [email protected], https://orcid.org/0009-0003-1210-9628
Paolo Di Girolamo, Scuola di Ingegneria, Università della Basilicata, Potenza, Italy, [email protected]
Marco Di Paolantonio, National Research Council, Institute of Marine Science (CNR-ISMAR), Roma, Italy, [email protected]
Giovanni Giuliano, National Research Council, Institute of Marine Science (CNR-ISMAR), Roma, Italy, [email protected]
Gian Luigi Liberti, National Research Council, Institute of Marine Science (CNR-ISMAR), Roma, Italy, [email protected]
Gianluca Volpe, National Research Council, Institute of Marine Science (CNR-ISMAR), Roma, Italy, [email protected]
Andrea Andrisani, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, Roma, Italy, [email protected]
Sara Venafra, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, Roma, Italy, [email protected]
Simona Zoffoli, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, Roma, Italy, [email protected]
Alexei Rozanov, Institute of Remote Sensing, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany, [email protected]
Cédric Jamet, Université du Littoral Côte d‘Opale, Dunkerque, France, [email protected]
Iwona Sylwia Stachlewska, Instytut Geofizyki, Warsaw, Poland, [email protected]
Lucile Duforêt-Gaurier, Université du Littoral Côte d‘Opale, Dunkerque, France, [email protected]
Rafael Avila-Simao, Université du Littoral Côte d‘Opale, Dunkerque, France, [email protected]
Lucja Janicka, Instytut Geofizyki, Warsaw, Poland, [email protected]
Tycjan Kossowski-Kołodziej, Instytut Geofizyki, Warsaw, Poland, [email protected]
Donato Summa, National Research Council, Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis (CNR-IMAA), Potenza, Italy, [email protected]
Davide Dionisi, National Research Council, Institute of Marine Science (CNR-ISMAR), Roma, Italy
