Simplified ultraviolet and visible wavelength atmospheric propagation model.

We have developed a program to model atmospheric propagation and lidar return at visible and UV wavelengths. This model combines a transmission code suitable for use in the visible and UV regions with a backscatter code for Mie and fluorescence lidar return calculations and a sky background radiance code into a modular menu-driven user friendly FORTRAN program for an IBM PC or PC compatible system. This propagation model includes attenuation due to molecular scattering, molecular absorption, and particulate attenuation. The wavelength dependence of our aerosol attenuation is parametrized in terms of the visual range to provide an approximate match for UV and visible horizontal attenuation data. This aerosol model is compared with the AFGL standard aerosol models and experimental data on atmospheric attenuation as a function of the visual range.