The Use of Polarization Lidar for Registering the Horizontal Spatial Distribution of Seawater Beam Attenuation Coefficient

Lidar survey of the western part of the Kara Sea was conducted using a PLD-1 shipborne polarization lidar. The survey was accompanied by a set of synchronous contact measurements of hydrooptical and hydrological characteristics. The regression analysis was used to connect the lidar attenuation coefficients of the two orthogonal polarized components of the lidar echo signal to the seawater beam attenuation coefficient and to retrieve the spatial distribution of the latter. The lidar attenuation coefficients obtained from the co- and cross-polarized components of the lidar echo signal were compared with a flow-through measuring complex data across three transects in several regions of the western Kara Sea different in hydrooptical characteristics. They were found to be in a good agreement. This enables the accurate identification of the spatial positions of frontal zones of various origins using lidar technology. The error-induced relative discrepancy between the seawater beam attenuation coefficients obtained by lidar methods and from the flow-through measuring complex does not exceed 10%.