The distribution characteristics of global surface reflectance and aerosol optical depth are analyzed using a surface-reflectance product of moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer and an aerosol-optical-depth product of European centre for medium-range weather forecasts. The effects of surface reflectance and aerosol optical depth on the echo power, detector output signal-to-noise ratio, and relative random error of spaceborne integral path differential absorption lidar systems are analyzed. Results show that with the given system parameters, the single-pulse echo power range is approximately 0.299-321 nW, which requires the detector to have a high dynamic range. The output signal-to-noise ratio of single-pulse echo detector is greater than 13.6 dB, and the output signal-to-noise ratio of detector with an accumulative 148 times (land)/296 times (ocean) pulse is greater than 26 dB. The high values of relative random error appear in the sea near the Sahara Desert and Arabian Peninsula, and the maximum relative random error is 0.22% (0.88×10 -6).