Airborne high spectral resolution lidar observations over Europe during the EUCAARI-LONGREX field experiment in May 2008 are analysed with respect to the optical properties of continental pollution aerosol. Continental pollution aerosol is characterized by its depolarisation and lidar ratio. Over all, the measurements of the lidar ratio and the particle linear depolarization ratio of pollution aerosols provide a narrow range of values. Therefore, this data set allows for a distinct characterization of the aerosol type "pollution aerosol" and thus is valuable both to distinguish continental pollution aerosol from other aerosol types and to determine mixtures with other types of aerosols

Airborne high spectral resolution lidar observations over Europe during the EUCAARI field experiment in May 2008 are analysed with respect to spatial distribution and optical properties of continental pollution aerosol. Continental aerosol is characterized by its depolarisation and lidar ratio. Mean values of 6%±1% for the particle linear depolarisation ratio, and 56 sr±6 sr for the lidar ratio were found for pollution aerosol. Both, lidar ratio and depolarisation ratio at 532 nm show virtually no variations for all analysed days during the measurement campaign