SGP/MPL/C1 - Data missing due to hardware failures

The MPL instrument was out of service during the time
range specified due to hardware failures. Data during
this period are missing and unrecoverable.

• null(Raw data stream - documentation not supported)

• null(Raw data stream - documentation not supported)

• base time(base_time)
• Preliminary cloud base height(preliminary_cbh)
• Time offset of tweaks from base_time(time_offset)
• Maximum altitude retrieved from multichannel scalar card.(max_altitude)
• Detector Temperature(detector_temp)
• Repetition rate, or Trigger Frequency of the laser(trigger_freq)
• lat(lat)
• range(range)
• Number of laser shots recorded(shots_summed)
• value represents date of last configuration change as yyyymmdd(property)
• Background Signal(background_signal)
• Aerosol backscatter coefficient at 355 nm(backscatter)
• Amount of time the actual laser pulse lags behind the sync trigger(laser_sync_offset)
• Voltage level which operates the thermistor(voltage_10)
• Array of heights for the range gates(height)
• Time in nanoseconds for each range bin of multichannel scalar card.(range_bin_time)
• Number of laser pulses summed during measurement interval(shots_sum)
• Amount of time the scalar lags behind the sync trigger(scalar_sync_offset)
• Laser Temperature(laser_temp)
• Angle of inclination with respect to horizontal(transceiver_altitude_angle)
• Distance from leading edge of first range bin to the center of each bin .(range_bins)
• effective range offset due to poor sync between laser firing and A/D trigger.(range_offset)
• Repetition Rate, or Trigger Frequency of the laser(pulse_rep)
• Angle of orientation with respect to true geographic north(transceiver_azimuth_angle)
• Laser output energy per pulse(energy_monitor)
• Instrument Temperature(instrument_temp)
• Amount of time laser pulse lags behind the scalar trigger(laser_scalar_sync_offset)
• Width of range-bins calculated from range_bin_time(range_bin_width)
• Dummy altitude for Zeb(alt)
• time(time)
• required to correct raw counts for detector deadtime prior to all other
  corrections.(deadtime_correction)
• Voltage level which operates the energy monitor(voltage_15)
• Filter Temperature(filter_temp)
• Sum of raw backscatter counts per bin prior to ANY corrections.(total_counts)
• Voltage level which operates the A/D card and the detector(voltage_05)
• lon(lon)

• Time offset of tweaks from base_time(time_offset)
• lon(lon)
• lat(lat)
• Dummy altitude for Zeb(alt)
• base time(base_time)
• Preliminary cloud base height above ground level(cbh)

• Background Signal(background_signal)
• Instrument Temperature(instrument_temp)
• Time offset of tweaks from base_time(time_offset)
• Cloud base height, measured by MPL(cloud_base_height)
• Laser output energy per pulse(energy_monitor)
• lat(lat)
• Cloud mask(cloud_mask_2)
• Array of heights for the range gates(height)
• Number of laser shots recorded(shots_summed)
• Repetition Rate, or Trigger Frequency of the laser(pulse_rep)
• The update time of the historical baseline used for the cloud boundary
  determination of this sample(baseline_update_time)
• cloud top height(cloud_top_height)
• Aerosol backscatter coefficient at 355 nm(backscatter)
• Flag indicating whether the beam was extinguished at indicated cloud top(cloud_top_attenuation_flag)
• Detector Temperature(detector_temp)
• Cloud mask(cloud_mask_1)
• Laser Temperature(laser_temp)
• lon(lon)
• base time(base_time)
• Relative random error in backscatter profiles(random_error)
• Dummy altitude for Zeb(alt)

• Cloud base height, measured by MPL(cloud_base_height)
• Instrument Temperature(instrument_temp)
• Repetition Rate, or Trigger Frequency of the laser(pulse_rep)
• Voltage level which operates the energy monitor(voltage_15)
• Instrument temperature(instrument_temperature)
• Background Signal(background_signal)
• Voltage level which operates the A/D card and the detector(voltage_05)
• base time(base_time)
• Number of laser shots recorded(shots_summed)
• lat(lat)
• Voltage level which operates the thermistor(voltage_10)
• Laser output energy per pulse(energy_monitor)
• Filter Temperature(filter_temp)
• Laser Temperature(laser_temp)
• Binary data quality flag(cloud_base_height_dq_flag)
• Aerosol backscatter coefficient at 355 nm(backscatter)
• Array of heights for the range gates(height)
• lon(lon)
• Detector Temperature(detector_temp)
• Time offset of tweaks from base_time(time_offset)
• Dummy altitude for Zeb(alt)

SGP/MPL/C1 - Signal degrading

The MPL viewport window was blown off during a storm on 2002/09/25.  The MPL received a 
soaking of rain.  Following this event, although site operations cleaned and dried the 
optics, the lidar performance continued to degrade over the next few months.  Although 
initially suitable for cloud detection, by Dec 10th the lidar was providing useful results only 
during the day (oddly enough).  By Jan 16, the detector was dead.  

It is not recommended to depend on night-time cloud base heights after Dec. 10 2002. 

It is not recommended to use any of the data after 9/25 for aerosol retrievals.

• base time(base_time)
• Preliminary cloud base height(preliminary_cbh)
• Maximum altitude retrieved from multichannel scalar card.(max_altitude)
• Time offset of tweaks from base_time(time_offset)
• Detector Temperature(detector_temp)
• Repetition rate, or Trigger Frequency of the laser(trigger_freq)
• lat(lat)
• range(range)
• Number of laser shots recorded(shots_summed)
• value represents date of last configuration change as yyyymmdd(property)
• Background Signal(background_signal)
• Aerosol backscatter coefficient at 355 nm(backscatter)
• Amount of time the actual laser pulse lags behind the sync trigger(laser_sync_offset)
• Voltage level which operates the thermistor(voltage_10)
• Array of heights for the range gates(height)
• Time in nanoseconds for each range bin of multichannel scalar card.(range_bin_time)
• Number of laser pulses summed during measurement interval(shots_sum)
• Amount of time the scalar lags behind the sync trigger(scalar_sync_offset)
• Laser Temperature(laser_temp)
• Angle of inclination with respect to horizontal(transceiver_altitude_angle)
• Distance from leading edge of first range bin to the center of each bin .(range_bins)
• effective range offset due to poor sync between laser firing and A/D trigger.(range_offset)
• Repetition Rate, or Trigger Frequency of the laser(pulse_rep)
• Angle of orientation with respect to true geographic north(transceiver_azimuth_angle)
• Laser output energy per pulse(energy_monitor)
• Instrument Temperature(instrument_temp)
• Amount of time laser pulse lags behind the scalar trigger(laser_scalar_sync_offset)
• Dummy altitude for Zeb(alt)
• Width of range-bins calculated from range_bin_time(range_bin_width)
• time(time)
• required to correct raw counts for detector deadtime prior to all other
  corrections.(deadtime_correction)
• Voltage level which operates the energy monitor(voltage_15)
• Sum of raw backscatter counts per bin prior to ANY corrections.(total_counts)
• Filter Temperature(filter_temp)
• Voltage level which operates the A/D card and the detector(voltage_05)
• lon(lon)

• Background Signal(background_signal)
• Instrument Temperature(instrument_temp)
• Time offset of tweaks from base_time(time_offset)
• Cloud base height, measured by MPL(cloud_base_height)
• lat(lat)
• Laser output energy per pulse(energy_monitor)
• Cloud mask(cloud_mask_2)
• Array of heights for the range gates(height)
• Number of laser shots recorded(shots_summed)
• Repetition Rate, or Trigger Frequency of the laser(pulse_rep)
• The update time of the historical baseline used for the cloud boundary
  determination of this sample(baseline_update_time)
• cloud top height(cloud_top_height)
• Aerosol backscatter coefficient at 355 nm(backscatter)
• Flag indicating whether the beam was extinguished at indicated cloud top(cloud_top_attenuation_flag)
• Detector Temperature(detector_temp)
• Laser Temperature(laser_temp)
• Cloud mask(cloud_mask_1)
• lon(lon)
• base time(base_time)
• Relative random error in backscatter profiles(random_error)
• Dummy altitude for Zeb(alt)

SGP/MPL/C1 - Detector Failure

The detector failed following a period of data quality degradation.  The MPL was replaced 
on 1/31/2003.

• base time(base_time)
• Preliminary cloud base height(preliminary_cbh)
• Maximum altitude retrieved from multichannel scalar card.(max_altitude)
• Time offset of tweaks from base_time(time_offset)
• Detector Temperature(detector_temp)
• Repetition rate, or Trigger Frequency of the laser(trigger_freq)
• lat(lat)
• range(range)
• Number of laser shots recorded(shots_summed)
• value represents date of last configuration change as yyyymmdd(property)
• Background Signal(background_signal)
• Aerosol backscatter coefficient at 355 nm(backscatter)
• Amount of time the actual laser pulse lags behind the sync trigger(laser_sync_offset)
• Voltage level which operates the thermistor(voltage_10)
• Array of heights for the range gates(height)
• Time in nanoseconds for each range bin of multichannel scalar card.(range_bin_time)
• Number of laser pulses summed during measurement interval(shots_sum)
• Amount of time the scalar lags behind the sync trigger(scalar_sync_offset)
• Laser Temperature(laser_temp)
• Angle of inclination with respect to horizontal(transceiver_altitude_angle)
• Distance from leading edge of first range bin to the center of each bin .(range_bins)
• effective range offset due to poor sync between laser firing and A/D trigger.(range_offset)
• Repetition Rate, or Trigger Frequency of the laser(pulse_rep)
• Angle of orientation with respect to true geographic north(transceiver_azimuth_angle)
• Laser output energy per pulse(energy_monitor)
• Instrument Temperature(instrument_temp)
• Amount of time laser pulse lags behind the scalar trigger(laser_scalar_sync_offset)
• Dummy altitude for Zeb(alt)
• Width of range-bins calculated from range_bin_time(range_bin_width)
• time(time)
• required to correct raw counts for detector deadtime prior to all other
  corrections.(deadtime_correction)
• Voltage level which operates the energy monitor(voltage_15)
• Sum of raw backscatter counts per bin prior to ANY corrections.(total_counts)
• Filter Temperature(filter_temp)
• Voltage level which operates the A/D card and the detector(voltage_05)
• lon(lon)

• Background Signal(background_signal)
• Instrument Temperature(instrument_temp)
• Time offset of tweaks from base_time(time_offset)
• Cloud base height, measured by MPL(cloud_base_height)
• lat(lat)
• Laser output energy per pulse(energy_monitor)
• Cloud mask(cloud_mask_2)
• Array of heights for the range gates(height)
• Number of laser shots recorded(shots_summed)
• Repetition Rate, or Trigger Frequency of the laser(pulse_rep)
• The update time of the historical baseline used for the cloud boundary
  determination of this sample(baseline_update_time)
• cloud top height(cloud_top_height)
• Aerosol backscatter coefficient at 355 nm(backscatter)
• Flag indicating whether the beam was extinguished at indicated cloud top(cloud_top_attenuation_flag)
• Detector Temperature(detector_temp)
• Laser Temperature(laser_temp)
• Cloud mask(cloud_mask_1)
• lon(lon)
• base time(base_time)
• Relative random error in backscatter profiles(random_error)
• Dummy altitude for Zeb(alt)

SGP/MPL/C1 - Metadata errors

The latitude, longitude and altitude of the Micropulse Lidar
(MPL) were incorrectly entered into the ARM database.  The 
correct location of the SGP.C1 MPL is:
   Lat: 36.606N
   Lon: 97.485W
   Alt:    316m

• lat(lat)
• lon(lon)
• Dummy altitude for Zeb(alt)

• lat(lat)
• Dummy altitude for Zeb(alt)
• lon(lon)