Campaign : Colorado : Cavity Attenuated Phase Shift
2010.10.01 - 2011.05.30
Lead Scientist : Paola Massoli
Description
The CAPS instruments will be deployed during StormVex where the extinction monitor will provide a measurement of a basic optical property of the aerosols which is critical for understanding the affects of aerosols on radiative forcing. Additionally, the aerosol extinction can be combined with other ground based estimates of optical, microphysical, chemical properties of the aerosol. This is particularly desirable in order to have a complete picture of the aerosol characteristics at the SPL location and to define the effect of such aerosol on the radiative balance (e.g. scattering vs absorbing aerosols). It will also provide useful surface data to help constraining columnar radiation measurements that are planned during StormVex. This is highly desirable given the high uncertainty in extrapolating and defining the vertical aerosol profile and radiative budget in the proximity of the ground surface.
