GLOBAL TROPOPAUSE MAPS BY SATELLITE

Abstract

The backscatter of a submicrosecond light pulse projected from a satellite is studied as a means of obtaining meteorological data. A time display of energy returned to the source will vary with atmospheric density, cloud-top altitude, ozone layer, and occurrence and altitude of dust layers at the tropopause, in the stratosphere and in the vicinity of the 80-km inversion. Of these possibilities, the measurement of height of selected air-density levels in the vicinity of the tropopause can supply a maximum of weather information for a minimum of satellite power.