Laser Instrument Maps Clouds that Reach Above the Sky

The Cloud Physics Lidar, or CPL, is a remote sensing, laser-based instrument used to measure the cloud and aerosol structure of the atmosphere. CPL Researcher Stephen Palm, with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, describes how the instrument creates a very high-resolution picture of the height of clouds and their temperature readings. It flew onboard a Global Hawk aircraft to support NASA’s Airborne Tropical Tropopause Experiment, or ATTREX mission to study the upper atmosphere. The data collected using CPL helps ATTREX researchers to better understand if clouds near the top of the troposphere are extending up into the tropopause region above it.