Lidar output energy on 10,6 μm for remote sensing of oil films on sea surface

The influence of lidar parameters, sounding angle, and sea state on detecting oil films on the sea surface, is analysed. The relationship is derived for minimum lidar output energy required to detect echo-pulses from the sea surface at non-vertical monostatic sounding. The calculation results for angular dependence of the minimum lidar output energy are presented for sounding from space under various atmospheric conditions, wind speed and lidar altitude. It is shown that the required lidar output energy increases when the lidar optical axis deviates from vertical. Lidar output energy of 1-10 J depending on lidar altitude allows to detect reliably echo-pulses from the sea surface at the signal-to-noise ratio of 10 over a wide range of the wind speed, optical and atmospheric parameters.