How much is lidar affected by weather and atmosphere?

Work is greatly influenced by the weather and atmosphere. In general, laser has a small attenuation and a long propagation distance in sunny weather. In severe weather such as rainstorm, thick smoke and dense fog, the attenuation increases sharply and the propagation distance is greatly affected. For example, co2 laser with working wavelength of 10.6 micron has better atmospheric transmission performance among all lasers, and its attenuation in bad weather is 6 times that in sunny days.

The range of co2 lidar used on the ground or at low altitude is 10-20km in sunny days, but it is reduced to 1km in bad weather. Moreover, atmospheric circulation will distort and shake the laser beam, which will directly affect the measurement accuracy of lidar.