Scanning High in the Sky for Concentrations of Water Vapor

The Diode Laser Hygrometer, or DLH is an instrument uses a laser sensor to detect concentrations of water vapor in air that moves directly underneath the wing of an aircraft in flight. DLH Principal Investigator Glenn Diskin, with NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia, discusses how the instrument was used on a Global Hawk remotely piloted aircraft to support NASA’s Airborne Tropical Tropopause Experiment, or ATTREX mission. Data from DLH helps ATTREX researchers to accurately quantify the water content in the atmosphere at high altitudes.