NSA/MPL/C1 - Laser Q-Switch Problem

At about 22:52 UTC on 2004/01/19, the NSA MPL appears to have suffered a temporary failure 
of the laser Q-Switch.  This results in a complete loss of lidar data immediately 
thereafter.  The problem was resolved (at least for the time being) by disconnecting and 
reconnecting the Q-Switch cable on 2004/01/24 at about 00:16 UTC.  Data after this time appears 
good.

• Voltage level which operates the thermistor(voltage_10)
• Distance from leading edge of first range bin to the center of each bin .(range_bins)
• Maximum altitude retrieved from multichannel scalar card.(max_altitude)
• range(range)
• Laser output energy per pulse(energy_monitor)
• Array of heights for the range gates(height)
• base time(base_time)
• effective range offset due to poor sync between laser firing and A/D trigger.(range_offset)
• Number of laser shots recorded(shots_summed)
• Instrument Temperature(instrument_temp)
• Background Signal(background_signal)
• Filter Temperature(filter_temp)
• lon(lon)
• time(time)
• Time in nanoseconds for each range bin of multichannel scalar card.(range_bin_time)
• Voltage level which operates the A/D card and the detector(voltage_05)
• Detector Temperature(detector_temp)
• Laser Temperature(laser_temp)
• Voltage level which operates the energy monitor(voltage_15)
• Preliminary cloud base height(preliminary_cbh)
• Attenuated backscatter(detector_counts)
• Repetition Rate, or Trigger Frequency of the laser(pulse_rep)
• lat(lat)
• Time offset of tweaks from base_time(time_offset)
• Width of range-bins calculated from range_bin_time(range_bin_width)
• Dummy altitude for Zeb(alt)

• MPL Cloth et al. Algorithm Significance Mask(SigniMaskMplCloth)
• Height of Center of Each Range Bin(Heights)
• base time(base_time)
• Time offset of tweaks from base_time(time_offset)

• null(Raw data stream - documentation not supported)

• MPL Cloth et al. Algorithm Cloud Mask(CloudMaskMplCloth)
• base time(base_time)
• Height of Center of Each Range Bin(Heights)
• Time offset of tweaks from base_time(time_offset)

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