Vertical distribution of aerosols over the east coast of India inferred from airborne LIDAR measurements

Abstract. The information on altitude distribution of aerosols in the atmosphere is essential in assessing the im-pact of aerosol warming on thermal structure and stability of the atmosphere. In addition, aerosol altitude distribution is needed to address complex problems such as the radiative in-teraction of aerosols in the presence of clouds. With this ob-jective, an extensive, multi-institutional and multi-platform field experiment (ICARB-Integrated Campaign for Aerosols, gases and Radiation Budget) was carried out under the Geo-sphere Biosphere Programme of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO-GBP) over continental India and adjoin-ing oceans during March to May 2006. Here, we present air-borne LIDAR measurements carried out over the east Coast of the India during the ICARB field campaign. An increase in aerosol extinction (scattering + absorption) was observe