Chinese Optics Letters, Volume. 24, Issue 1, (2026)
Spaceborne high-spectral-resolution lidar ACDL/DQ-1 measurement and validation of aerosol optical properties in 2023 Canadian wildfire smoke [Early Posting]
During June and July 2023, exceptionally widespread wildfires in Canada generated substantial quantities of smoke aerosols. The spaceborne high-spectral-resolution lidar (HSRL) can accurately retrieve aerosol optical properties without assuming lidar ratios. We utilized HSRL data from the Aerosol and Carbon Detection Lidar (ACDL) onboard DQ-1 satellite to retrieve optical properties and investigate the spatiotemporal distributions of wildfire smoke aerosols. The results show that the smoke aerosol profiles obtained from ACDL and the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) exhibit good consistency. The ACDL-derived aerosol optical depth (AOD) shows strong correlations with Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) data, with coefficients of determination (R2) of 0.704 and 0.924, respectively. The validation results highlight the optical properties of Canadian wildfire smoke aerosols and demonstrate the observational advantages of ACDL.