Simulation of polar mesospheric cloud measurements via spaceborne LiDAR and detection efficiency analysis

This study introduces a spaceborne LiDAR model designed for polar mesospheric clouds (PMCs) detection for the first time, to the best of our knowledge. A three-dimensional PMCs field is reconstructed as the detection target of the proposed model. The detector signal is simulated by integrating optical properties, atmospheric radiative transfer calculations, and parameters from both Cloud-Aerosol LiDAR with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) and atmospheric LiDAR (ATLID). A comparative analysis revealed a positive correlation between the detection efficiency and ice water content. CALIOP demonstrated a higher detection efficiency compared to ATLID. Moreover, both CALIOP and ATLID can detect the vertical structure of PMCs.