Development of data products for the University of Wisconsin High Spectral Resolution Lidar

This project will maintain the University of Wisconsin Arctic High Spectral Resolution Lidar (AHSRL) at Eureka on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic. Instruments were initially deployed at Eureka in August of 2005 in efforts to extend the knowledge of Arctic cloudiness with additional long-term observation sites as part of the Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH). The NOAA cloud radar and the AHSRL are part of this instrument suite. Both instruments are returning continuous high quality data. In combination, they provide unique information on the optical and micro-physical characteristics of clouds. The AHSRL operates as an Internet appliance which is remotely controlled from the University of Wisconsin's laboratory. It is completely eye safe. As a result, the AHSRL is able to gather well-calibrated data sets at much lower cost than possible with conventional lidars. Data is transmitted via the Internet and is made available to researchers around the world in real time via a publicly accessible web site.