What is Supercooled Liquid Water? Supercooled Liquid Water (SLW) refers to water droplets in a cloud that can stay in a liquid state at below freezing temperatures. If an airplane flies into these SLW droplets, icing on the wings and airframe can occur.
Category: Articles
Multiple Instruments Work Together for a Better View of Air Quality
Accurately identifying and quantifying particulate matter (PM) in the atmosphere is key to determining air quality. Researchers are particularly interested in PM that have a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers because they are believed to contribute to heart and lung disease in humans and animals.
Researchers are Advancing Science using Micro Pulse LiDAR Technology
There are so many examples of interesting research using Micro Pulse LiDAR (MPL) technology it is difficult to decide on my favorites; however, I have chosen to highlight the following two papers because these applications for the MPL and MiniMPL address problems that are very important to global health.
Top 5 Differences Between Micro Pulse LiDAR and Ceilometer Technology
If you are evaluating backscatter LiDAR sensors for measuring aerosols, cloud vertical structure, and planetary boundary layer (PBL) heights, what factors should you consider in your comparison? It really comes down to a choice between the traditional analog technology used in ceilometers and the more recent advanced technology found in Micro Pulse LiDAR (MPL) sensors.
Planetary Boundary Layer: Why Is It Important?
The famous statistician George Box said “All models are wrong, but some are useful”—for calculating air quality indices and emissions estimates this is certainly true. One way to increase the utility of models is to use up-to-the-minute, local Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) measurements as an input when generating top-down emissions estimates.
Micro Pulse LiDAR: Perfect Tool for Atmospheric Research
Micro pulse style lidars are active remote sensing tools proven to be highly useful in atmospheric research. This style of backscatter lidar has been around for decades; however, incremental improvements in photon counting, sensitivity, polarization, optical filters, coatings, and precision machining of each element support increasingly accurate analysis.
Unpredictable Volcanic Ash Plumes Restrict Air Traffic
Volcano Alert Level: “Warning” and Aviation Color Code: “Red.” If a volcano reaches this status, there is a major eruption imminent or already underway, which poses a threat to the surrounding areas on the ground and in the air. Even with early monitoring systems in place for hundreds of volcanoes worldwide, the unpredictable nature of earthquakes, eruptions, lava flows and ash plumes wreaks havoc with nearby communities and global aviation. Ongoing research to support improved forecasting and modeling of volcanic activity uses a combination of sensors, including Mini Micro Pulse LiDAR (MiniMPL) to collect data.
CASE STUDY: MICRO PULSE LIDAR ENHANCES GLOBAL AVIATION SAFETY
Monitoring volcanic ash provides early warnings and forecasts of hazardous atmospheric conditions.
Understanding the Effects of Biomass Burning on the Climate
Micro Pulse LiDAR (MPL) is being used to study the vertical extent and movement of aerosols in the atmosphere caused by traditional biomass burning (BB) in southern Africa.
Accurate PBL Simulation Helps Model Urban Pollution
Atmospheric transport models benefit from real-time localized data inputs. Deteriorating air quality in urban areas is causing growing concern about public health and climate change. To gain a better understanding of air pollution and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, some cities and states are attempting to establish a baseline and collect data over time to track… Continue reading Accurate PBL Simulation Helps Model Urban Pollution