Vaisala CL51 ceilometer
Vaisala CL51 ceilometer providing attenuated backscatter coefficients and cloud base heights.
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
Engineering topics
OConnor, Ewan
Publications and source records attributed to OConnor, Ewan.
Finnish Meteorological Institute Doppler Lidar
This doppler lidar system provides co-polar and cross polar attenuated backscatter coefficients,signal strength, and doppler velocities in the cloud and in the boundary level, including uncertainties for all parameters. Using the doppler beam swinging DBS technique, and Vertical Azimuthal Display (VAD) this system also provides vertical profiles of horizontal winds.
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
The Cloudsat Mission and the EOS Constellation: A New Dimension of Space-Based Observation of Clouds and Precipitation
CloudSat is a satellite experiment designed to measure the vertical structure of clouds from space. The expected launch of CloudSat is planned for 2004 and, once launched, CloudSat will orbit in formation as part of a constellation of satellites including NASA's Aqua and Aura satellites, a NASA-CNES lidar satellite (P-C) and a CNES satellite carrying a polarimeter (PARASOL). A unique feature that CloudSat brings to this constellation is the ability to fly a precise orbit enabling the fields of view of the CloudSat radar to be overlapped with the P-C lidar footprint and the other measurements of the EOS constellation. The precision of this overlap creates a unique multi-satellite observing system for studying the atmospheric processes essential to the hydrological cycle. The vertical profile of cloud properties provided by CloudSat fills a critical gap in the investigation of feedback mechanisms linking clouds to climate. Measuring the vertical profile of cloud properties requires a combination of active and passive instruments, and this will be achieved by combining the radar data of CloudSat with active and passive data from other sensors of the constellation. This paper describes the underpinning science, and gives an overview of the mission, and provides some idea of the expected products and anticipated application of these products. Notably, the CloudSat mission is expected to provide new knowledge about global cloudiness, stimulating new areas of research on clouds including data assimilation and cloud parameterization. The mission also provides an important opportunity to demonstrate active sensor technology for future scientific and tactical applications. The CloudSat mission is a partnership between NASA/JPL, the Canadian Space Agency, Colorado State University, the US Air Force, and the US Department of Energy.
Stephens, Graeme L.↗