LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) technology is utilized widely in the meteorological community for research. Lidar works by emitting low-power laser pulses into the amtosphere. The receiver then detects any back-scattered returns from the atmosphere. Unlike Doppler Wind Lidars, ceilometers have a longer wavelength and can therefore detect clouds and aerosols at a much greater altitude. Knowing cloud base, cloud thickness, and even detecting aerosol depth in the boundary layer play an important role in understanding the boundary layer characteristics.
With a wavelength of 910 nm, the Cl51 onboard MIPS has a measurement range up to 15 km and can detect up to three cloud bases. The unit has a programable reporting interval but is set to 15 s.
- Wavelength: 910 nm
- Measurement Range: 0-15km
- Gate Spacing: 10 m
- Detectable Layers: 3
- Time Resolution: 15 seconds
- Measurement Interval: 6 seconds
- Peak Power: 27 W
- Beam Divergence: 0.15 mrad