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Instrument

WCL
Wyoming Cloud Lidar

The Wyoming Cloud Lidar (WCL) is an airborne lidar system operated by the University of Wyoming. It primarily flies on the University of Wyoming King Air (UWKA) research aircraft. It measures lidar backscatter and depolarization to characterize clouds and aerosols. It can operate as an upward-pointing (zenith) lidar at 355 nm or a downward-pointing (nadir) lidar at 351 nm. It has a temporal resolution of 0.05 seconds for the zenith lidar and 0.01 seconds for the nadir lidar. WCL has a horizontal resolution of about 4.5 meters and a vertical resolution of 3.75 meters at the UWKA aircraft's average cruising speed of 90 meters per second.

NASA's DC-8 flying laboratory passes Antarctica's tallest peak, Mount Vinson, on Oct. 22, 2012, during a flight over the continent to measure changes in the massive ice sheet and sea ice. Credit: NASA/Michael Studinger (Photography courtesy NASA Images)

Overview

Instrument Details

Lidar
Earth Science > Spectral/engineering > Lidar > Lidar Backscatter
Earth Science > Spectral/engineering > Lidar > Lidar Depolarization Ratio
Earth Science > Spectral/engineering > Lidar
Full Column Profile
0.01 s (nadir), 0.05 s (zenith)
~4.5 m (horizontal), 3.75 m (vertical)
854.1 THz (nadir), 844.5 THz (zenith)
Currently unavailable

  • Currently unavailable

  • Owen Cruikshank

  • University of Wyoming

  • NSF

  • Overview PublicationExternal Link

    • data center outside NASA

Instrument Operation

PECAN

Plains Elevated Convection at Night

2015
Great Plains, United States
view all deployment dates
1 Deployment
· 0 Data Products

Data Products