Documentation
Supported ALCs
The following ALCs are supported:
- Lufft CHM 15k
- Sigma Space MiniMPL
- Vaisala CL31 and CL51
- Vaisala CL61
- Cloudnet project data format (various instruments)
- CALIPSO/CALIOP (lidar simulation only)
Vaisala CT25K, CL31, CL51, CL61
Type: blview, ct25k, cl31, cl51, cl61
Vaisala CT25K, CL31, CL51 and CL61 are ceilometers which use near-infrared
wavelength of 905 nm (CT25k) and 910 nm (CL). CT25K, CL31 and CL51 store
backscatter in DAT files. These can be converted to NetCDF with the alcf
convert cl51 <input> <output> command, where <input> and <output> are
input and output directories, respectively. CL61 produces native NetCDF files.
The converted and native “L2” NetCDF files can be used as input to the alcf
auto lidar and alcf lidar commands. Alternatively, you can use the tool
cl2nc to convert the CT25K, CL31 and CL51
DAT files to NetCDF.
The types ct25k, cl31 and cl51 read NetCDF files produced by cl2nc (or
alcf convert cl51 <input> <output>). The type cl61 reads native NetCDF
files produced by the CL61 instrument. The type blview reads L2 NetCDF
produced by the vendor software BL-VIEW.
The 905-nm and 910-nm wavelength bands used by CT25K, CL31, CL51 and CL61 are affected by water vapour absorption lines (Wiegner et al., 2019). The ALCF currently does not support simulating water vapour absorption, and it is not taken into account in the calibration process.
The types ct25k, cl31 and cl51 also support reading a format of CL51
NetCDF files (ceil) produced by the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM)
campaigns.
Sigma Space MiniMPL
Type: mpl (mpl2nc)
Sigma Space MiniMPL is a lidar which use visible wavelength of 532 nm. The instrument
stores backscatter in MPL files. These can be converted to NetCDF using
the SigmaMPL software. The NetCDF files can then be used as input to the
alcf auto lidar and alcf lidar commands. The tool
mpl2nc can also convert MPL files
to NetCDF. Use the lidar type mpl2nc with alcf auto lidar and alcf lidar
to process data from mpl2nc.
Lufft CHM 15k
Type: chm15k
Lufft CHM 15k is a ceilometer which uses near-infrared wavelength of 1064 nm.
The instrument stores backscatter in NetCDF files, which can be used directly
with the ALCF commands alcf auto lidar and alcf lidar without conversion.
Cloudnet
Type: cn_ct25k, cn_cl31, cn_cl51, cn_chm15k, cn_minimpl
Data format produced by the Cloudnet project. Various instruments are supported:
Vaisala CT25K (cn_ct25k), CL31 (cn_cl31), CL51 (cn_cl51), CL61 (cn_cl61)
Lufft CHM 15k (cn_chm15k) and Sigma Space MiniMPL (cn_minimpl).
CALIPSO/CALIOP
Type: caliop
CALIOP is a spaceborne lidar on board of the CNES-NASA satellite CALIPSO.
The ALCF supports lidar simulation of a spaceborne lidar at 532 nm, i.e. it can
produce simulated backscatter profiles from atmospheric model data. Therefore,
this lidar type can be used with alcf simulate and alcf auto model,
but not with alcf lidar or alcf auto lidar.