Lidar stands for Light Detection and Ranging. It is a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges. Lidar is the optical analogue of radar. Lidar differs from radar in its energy source, a laser in the optical part of the electromagnetic spectrum (near IR and green).
Lidar is used to measure things such as:
- range and altitude
- atmospheric vertical profiles of aerosols and trace gas densities
- temperature
- cloud cover
- wind velocity
- shape and size of landscape features
- height and density of forests
- sea surface roughness
