Assessment of using spaceborne LiDAR to monitor the particulate backscatter coefficient on large, freshwater lakes: A test using CALIPSO on Lake Michigan

The Cloud-Aerosol LiDAR and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) satellite was launched in 2006 with the primary goal of measuring the properties of clouds and aerosols in Earth’s atmosphere using LiDAR. Since then, numerous studies have shown the viability of using CALIPSO to observe day/night differences in subsurface optical properties of oceans and large seas from space. To date no studies have been done on using CALIPSO to monitor the subsurface optical properties of large, freshwater-lakes. This is likely due to the limited spatial resolution of CALIPSO, which makes the mapping of subsurface properties of regions smaller than large seas impractical. Still, CALIPSO does pass over some of the world’s largest, freshwater-lakes, yielding important information about the water. Here we use the entire CALIPSO data record (approximately 15 years) to measure the particulate backscatter coefficient (b bp , m −1) across Lake Michigan. We then compare the LiDAR derived values of b bp to optical imagery values obtained from MODIS and to in situ measurements. Critically, we find that the LiDAR derived b bp aligns better in non-summer months with in situ values when compared to the optically imagery. However, due to both high cloud coverage and high wind speeds on Lake Michigan, this comes with the caveat that the CALIPSO product is limited in its usability. We close by speculating on the roll that spaceborne LiDAR, including CALIPSO and other satitlites, have on the future of monitoring the Great Lakes and other large bodies of fresh water.