The clouds occur at high altitude have a significant impact on climate system. Much of the high altitude clouds generally occur in the tropical latitudes due to significant convective phenomena occurring in this region. These clouds occur in different forms such as anvil and stratus trails and sometimes not visible to satellite based instruments. The only means to detect this type of cloud in the atmosphere is using the Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) Technique. At National Atmospheric Research Laboratory (NARL), a Department of space unit located at Gadanki near Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh a portable LIDAR was developed and has been made operational since 2005. The LIDAR system employs 532nm wavelength Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation (LASER) and used for monitoring the high altitude clouds during Nocturnal Periods. In this paper, the occurrence of high altitude clouds during the monsoon period has been detected using Ground based LIDAR. Using this synergical instrumentation data the occurrence, transport phenomena, optical properties and dynamism of high altitude clouds have been explained over tropical site Gadanki.

Date Published: 5 May 2016
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 9879, Lidar Remote Sensing for Environmental Monitoring XV, 98790F (5 May 2016); doi: 10.1117/12.2224371

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9879:
Lidar Remote Sensing for Environmental Monitoring XV
Upendra N. Singh; Nobuo Sugimoto; Achuthan Jayaraman; Mullapudi V. R. Seshasai, Editor(s)