Community Instrument for Validation of ICESat-2-derived Measurements of Snow- and Ice Properties

The ICESat-2 science team utilizes ATLAS data for advanced measurements, referred to as 'quantitative LiDAR,' which assess vegetation, bathymetry, and various optical properties of snow and ice, such as snow depth, scattering coefficient, absorption coefficient, and porosity. While measurements of these properties have been demonstrated using processed ATL03 data, validating the derived data products remains a significant challenge. Moreover, commercially available visible-wavelength LiDAR instruments with performance comparable to ATLAS for field use still need to be improved. To address these challenges and assist the science team in expanding the use of ATLAS, we have developed a portable terrestrial visible-wavelength photon-counting LiDAR system. This system, which can operate in mono-static and bi-static configurations, provides temporal resolution and sensitivity similar to ATLAS and operates simultaneously at three visible wavelengths (405, 520, and 640 nm). Our ultimate goal is to make the instrument robust and user-friendly, so non-experts can employ it in field campaigns for validation and calibration purposes.