Meteorological optoelectronic technology: from atmospheric observation to weather modification

Effective atmospheric observation and successful weather modification both rely on accurate, high-resolution measurements of atmospheric composition, cloud microphysics, wind fields, and thermodynamic structures. Yet traditional ground-based networks and passive satellite sensors often fall short in capturing vertical distributions, rapid temporal variations, and cloud-scale dynamics that are essential for understanding pollutant transport, precipitation initiation, and the evaluation of seeding responses. Optoelectronic technologies in meteorology—including multiple active and passive photoelectric detection technologies, such as differential absorption lidar, Raman lidar, et al.—offer non-contact, range-resolved, and spectrally selective measurements across multiple spatial and temporal scales, thereby filling critical observational gaps. This review summarizes recent advances in these technologies, covering four main areas: gas and aerosol profiling, cloud microphysical characterization, wind and turbulence monitoring, and temperature–humidity sounding. Their applications to weather modification—from pre-condition identification and real-time operational guidance to post-event effect evaluation—are also examined. Finally, current challenges, including hardware constraints, retrieval uncertainties, and the lack of standardized multi-source fusion frameworks, are discussed alongside future directions toward integrated, intelligent, and closed-loop observation systems.