IRCLOUD

During December 2010, a prototype LWIR cloud camera system was deployed at the Southern Great Plains Guest Instrument Facility (SGP-GIF). The system consisted of a microbolometer camera (~7-15 ìm) to capture sky imagery, a blackbody calibration source, and a GPS receiver used to estimate atmospheric column water vapor and constrain atmospheric compensation. The camera system collected calibrated sky radiance images co-incident with the SGP Central Facility with the goal of quantitatively assessing its ability to detect thin cirrus clouds.

The investigator's goal was to prove the feasibility of using COTS, uncooled, microbolometer cameras as day/night capable cirrus cloud fraction monitoring stations. The low-cost, low-maintenance nature of these systems suggests the possibility that they could form the basis of a large ground-based cirrus monitoring network.

Timeline