The Cloud Physics Lidar, or CPL, is a backscatter lidar designed to operate simultaneously at 3 wavelengths: 1064, 532, and 355 nm. The purpose of the CPL is to provide multi-wavelength measurements of cirrus, subvisual cirrus, and aerosols with high temporal and spatial resolution. Figure 1 shows the entire CPL package in flight configuration. The CPL utilizes state-of-the-art technology with a high repetition rate, low pulse energy laser and photon-counting detection. Vertical resolution of the CPL measurements is fixed at 30 m; horizontal resolution can vary but is typically about 200 m. The CPL fundamentally measures range-resolved profiles of volume 180-degree backscatter coefficients. From the fundamental measurement, various data products are derived, including: time-height crosssection images; cloud and aerosol layer boundaries; optical depth for clouds, aerosol layers, and planetary boundary layer (PBL); and extinction profiles. The CPL was designed to fly on the NASA ER-2 aircraft but is adaptable to other platforms. Because the ER-2 typically flies at about 65,000 feet (20 km), onboard instruments are above 94% of the earth’s atmosphere, allowing ER-2 instruments to function as spaceborne instrument simulators. The ER-2 provides a unique platform for atmospheric profiling, particularly for active remote sensing instruments such as lidar, because the spatial coverage attainable by the ER-2 permits studies of aerosol properties across wide regions. Lidar profiling from the ER-2 platform is especially valuable because the cloud height structure, up to the limit of signal attenuation, is unambiguously measured.

The University of Colorado closed-path tunable diode laser hygrometer (CLH) is based on the water vapor hygrometers designed by R. D. May (Maycomm, Inc.). CLH is coupled to a heated, forward-facing inlet that enhances particulate water by anisokinetic sampling. Ice water content (IWC) is derived from the measurement of enhanced total water, with knowledge of the instrument sampling characteristics, particle size distributions and ambient water vapor.

In contrast to the open-path systems of similar heritage, the CLH, which was designed for operation in the troposphere on commercial aircraft, has a single-pass absorption cell (27.62 cm long). The light source is a room-temperature solid-state laser that puts out 3-5 mW of radiation at 1.37 mm (7306.752 cm-1).

The CPI records high-resolution (2.3 micron pixel size) digital images of particles that pass through the sample volume at speeds up to 200 m/s. In older models, CCD camera flashes up to 75 frames per second (fps), potentially imaging more than 25 particles per frame. More recent camera upgrades capable of bringing frame rate to nearly 500 fps. Real time image processing crops particle images from the full frame, eliminating blank space and compressing data by >1000:1. CPI is designed for ummanned use, with AI parameters to optimize performance without supervision.

DCS is a 16-megapixel color infrared digital camera system, providing high resolution imagery for mission tracking purposes Geo-referenced image products may be generated, when used in conjunction with a POS-AV system.

The Cloud Spectrometer and Impactor (CSI) combines the counterflow virtual impactor with a new lightweight cloud droplet probe to allow for detailed studies of total condensed water (TCW), liquid and ice, in clouds. The CSI can measure TCW from ~ 1 mg/m3 to several g/m3 depending on the configuration; in addition particle sizes from 2 to 50 μm are resolved with the droplet probe. The instrumentation can be mounted externally on most aircraft.

The NCAR counterflow virtual impactor (CVI) (Noone et al., 1988; Twohy et al., 1997) is an airborne instrument that can be used for studies of aerosol/cloud interactions, cloud physics, and climate. At the CVI inlet tip, cloud droplets or ice crystals larger than about 8 µm aerodynamic diameter are separated from the interstitial aerosol and impacted into dry nitrogen gas. This separation is possible via a counterflow stream of nitrogen out the CVI tip, which assures that only larger particles (cloud droplets or ice crystals) are sampled. Because droplets or crystals in a sampling volume of about 200 l/min are impacted into a sample stream of approximately 10 l/min, concentrations within the CVI are significantly enhanced. The water vapor and non-volatile residual nuclei remaining after droplet evaporation are sampled downstream of the inlet with selected instruments. These may include a Lyman-alpha or similar hygrometer, a condensation nucleus counter, an optical particle counter, filters for chemical analyses, or user instruments.

The CIN-100A is designed for aircraft mounting and measures the optical extinction coefficient and asymmetry parameter.

Ozone is measured in a dual-beam ultraviolet (254 nm) absorption analyzer. Ambient air flows through one absorption cell while air scrubbed of ozone flows through an adjacent one. This allows continuous measurement of both background and absorption signals. Flows are switched between cells by a pair of solenoid valves, which permits monitoring of optical changes. Water vapor is detected with a tunable diode laser spectrometer designed and built by Randy May. This sensor employs a room-temperature near-infrared laser (single mode at about 1.37 microns) and second harmonic detection, rather than direct absorption. Unlike the JPL water instrument, this sensor has an internal absorption path, optimized for the mid-troposphere. Carbon dioxide is measured by its absorption in the infrared (4.25 microns) using a LiCor NDIR instrument. This is also a dual-cell device, in which the absorption caused by the ambient air sample is compared to that from a reference gas of known composition. Halocarbons are monitored with a custom-built gas chromatograph, using short, packed columns and small ovens, and HP micro-electron capture detectors. Ambient sample and standard will be run simultaneously on paired columns to reduce errors associated with drift in ECD response.

The FCAS II sizes particles in the approximate diameter range from 0.07 mm to 1 mm. Particles are sampled from the free stream with a near isokinetic sampler and are transported to the instrument. They are then passed through a laser beam and the light scattered by individual particles is measured. Particle size is related to the scattered light. The data reduction for the FCAS II takes into account the water which is evaporated from the particle in sampling and the effects of anisokinetic sampling (Jonsson et al., 1995).

The FCAS II and its predecessors have provided accurate aerosol size distribution measurements throughout the evolution of the volcanic cloud produced by the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. (Wilson et al., 1993). Near co-incidences between FCAS II and SAGE II measurements show good agreement between optical extinctions calculated from FCAS size distributions and extinctions measured by SAGE II.

Accuracy: The instrument has been calibrated with monodisperse aerosol carrying a single charge. The FCAS III and the electrometer agree to within 10%. Sampling errors may increase the uncertainty but a variety of comparisons suggests that total uncertainties in aerosol surface are near 30% (Jonsson, et al., 1995).

Precision: The precision equals 1/ÖN where N is the number of particles counted. In many instances the precision on concentration measurements may reach 7% for 0.1 Hz data. If better precision is desired, it is necessary only to accumulate over longer time intervals.

Response Time: Data are processed at 0.1 Hz. However, the response time depends upon the precision required to detect the change in question. Small changes may require longer times to detect. Plume measurements may be processed with 1 s resolution.

Weight: Approximately 50 lbs.

The instrument used for the CPFM is a spectroradiometer based on a concave, holographic diffraction grating and a 1024-element diode array detector. It measures the intensities of the two linear polarization components of radiation propagating upward at the aircraft location from a range of elevation angles near the horizon. In addition, a measurement of the intensity of the direct solar beam is made by viewing a horizontal diffusing surface mounted under a quartz dome on board the aircraft. These measurements are used to verify atmospheric light-scattering calculations, which are essential for the accurate modeling of the chemistry of the stratosphere where POLARIS makes its measurements.