Validation of the Analytical Model of Oceanic Lidar Returns: Comparisons with Monte Carlo Simulations and Experimental Results

Abstract

The analytical model based on the quasi-single small-angle scattering approximation can efficiently simulate oceanic lidar signals with multiple scattering; thus, its accuracy is of particular interest to scientists. In this paper, the model is modified to include refraction at oblique incidence and is then compared with Monte Carlo (MC) simulations and experimental results. Under different conditions, the results calculated by the analytical model demonstrate good agreement with the MC simulation and experimental data. The coefficient of determination R2 considering the logarithm of signals and the root mean square of the relative difference δ are R2 = 0.998 and δ = 10% in comparison with the semi-analytic MC simulation and R2 = 0.952 and δ = 46% for the lidar experiment. Thus, the results demonstrate the validity of the analytical model in the simulation of oceanic lidar signals.

Oceanic Lidar: Theory and Experiment

“…Fig. 3, the analytical model can perfectly match the lidar-measured results at different stations [6,9].…”

“…The semianalytic MC algorithm greatly improves the calculation efficiency compared with the standard MC algorithm [6].…”

“…Seawater has very sharp forward peaks in its phase function that make the probability of scattering into the near-forward directions much larger than that of scattering into the backward hemisphere. If the optical thickness of the media is not too large, it is assumed that the trajectories that contribute to lidar signals primarily consist of single backscattering and small-angle forward multiple scattering on the outgoing and returning legs [7], namely the QSA approximation, which forms the foundation of the analytical model [6].…”

Overview of Underwater Transmission Characteristics of Oceanic LiDAR

“…The estimated or expected value of the semi-analytical probability is expressed as [12,49,74,76,92,94]:…”

“…LiDAR technology has achieved substantial advancement in the field of high-resolution optical remote sensing [6][7][8]. Further development of the technology in the field of ocean exploration would improve the marine optical remote sensing three-dimensional observation network and help solve the increasingly prominent development problems of marine environmental protection, marine resource development, and maritime right maintenance [9][10][11][12]84].…”