TWP/VCEIL/C2 - Ceilometer failure

Large data gaps began occurring frequently at the TWP Nauru site 26 February at 06Z.  
Prior to 25 February, optical cross talk errors had been observed.  Beginning on 25 February, 
data errors were observed.  By 26 February, these errors were exhibiting themselves as 
extended data gaps.  These gaps became increasingly frequent between 2/26 and 3/4.  All 
data are missing after 20050304.1550.

The instrument was replaced on 29 March and after some subsequent configuration work, the 
instrument was revived just after 00Z on 1 April.

• null(Raw data stream - documentation not supported)

• Aerosol backscatter coefficient at 355 nm(backscatter)
• Time offset of tweaks from base_time(time_offset)
• Warning and alarm status bits(status_string)
• lon(lon)
• Percentage of nominal factory setting (0 to 999%)(receiver_sensitivity)
• Vertical visibility(vertical_visibility)
• Laser temperature(laser_temperature)
• Altitude of highest signal(alt_highest_signal)
• Second lowest cloud base height(second_cbh)
• 6 character string describing instrument measurement parameters(measurement_parameters)
• Degrees from vertical (0 to +90)(tilt_angle)
• GPS raw data filename(filename)
• Detection status. See details(detection_status)
• lat(lat)
• Dummy altitude for Zeb(alt)
• Flag indicating aeri retrieval status(status_flag)
• Third cloud base height(third_cbh)
• Percentage of nominal factory setting (0 to 999%)(laser_pulse_energy)
• Lowest cloud base height detected.(first_cbh)
• base time(base_time)
• range(range)
• Millivolts at internal ADC input (0 to 2500)(background_light)
• Millivolts at internal ADC input(window_contamination)
• Backscatter sum(sum_backscatter)

TWP/VCEIL/C2 - occasional communication fault

Beginning August 30, 2005, the Nauru Ceilometer periodically went into a strange 
operational mode where the backscatter data exhibits vertical stripes.  Looking at the backscatter 
data - there are high amplitude oscillations occuring in the backscatter as a function 
of time at a given height.  The phenomenon appears to be more common at night.  Dates 
include: 30 Aug, 31 Aug, 1 Sep, 9 Sep, 15 Sep, 20 Oct, 22 Oct, 8 Dec, and others.

The fiber optic link to the ceilometer was faulty and causing periodic data corruption. 
The problem was corrected when the fiber optic line was replaced with a hard wired RS232 
link.

• Aerosol backscatter coefficient at 355 nm(backscatter)
• Flag indicating aeri retrieval status(status_flag)
• Percentage of nominal factory setting (0 to 999%)(laser_pulse_energy)
• Third cloud base height(third_cbh)
• Time offset of tweaks from base_time(time_offset)
• base time(base_time)
• Lowest cloud base height detected.(first_cbh)
• Warning and alarm status bits(status_string)
• range(range)
• lon(lon)
• Millivolts at internal ADC input (0 to 2500)(background_light)
• Percentage of nominal factory setting (0 to 999%)(receiver_sensitivity)
• Vertical visibility(vertical_visibility)
• Laser temperature(laser_temperature)
• Altitude of highest signal(alt_highest_signal)
• 6 character string describing instrument measurement parameters(measurement_parameters)
• Second lowest cloud base height(second_cbh)
• GPS raw data filename(filename)
• Degrees from vertical (0 to +90)(tilt_angle)
• Detection status. See details(detection_status)
• lat(lat)
• Dummy altitude for Zeb(alt)
• Millivolts at internal ADC input(window_contamination)
• Backscatter sum(sum_backscatter)