Three airborne campaigns with ALADIN (an atmospheric laser doppler instrument) airborne demonstrator (A2D) were performed in November 2007, December 2008, and September 2009, respectively. Sea surface return measured during the campaigns is analyzed for the sea surface reflectance. With consideration of the contribution of whitecaps, specular reflection and the subsurface volume backscattering to the sea surface reflectance models, the measured sea surface reflectance was compared to the models for the wavelength of 355 nm. The observations show that the expected effect of the wind stress on the sea surface reflectance and allow new insights into the significant contribution of subsurface reflectance, and contribution from the subsurface is estimated by using lidar signal for large incidence angles.