On the determination of the backscattering profile with LIDAR in presence of widespread smoke

Traditionally, the LIDAR technique has been successfully applied to the detection of concentrated smoke plumes emitted by wildfires. In this paper, it is shown how LIDAR measurements can also be deployed to determine the profile of the backscattering coefficient in the presence of widespread smoke, which can be the consequence of strong wind dispersion or non-concentrated sources. To this end, innovative signal processing techniques and data analysis tools have been developed. A systematic series of numerical tests has been performed to assess the potential and limits of the proposed methodology. The first investigations of experimental data have already provided promising results.