*********************************************************************** *********************** RICO DATA SUBMISSION ************************ *********************************************************************** Project no.: 2005-135 Project name: RICO (Rain In Cumulus over the Ocean) DATASET NAME: NCAR/NSF C-130 CLOUD PARTICLE IMAGER (CPI) DATA [Baker/SPEC] PI: Bradley A. Baker (brad@specinc.com) SPEC Inc. www.specinc.com 3022 Sterling Cir. Ste 200 Boulder, CO 80305 Phone: 303-449-1105 Fax 303-449-0132 Instrument: SPEC Cloud Particle Imager v2 Platform: NCAR/NSF C-130 Right PMS Pod Location: Mobile ======================================================================= RICO SPEC CPI Processed Data Directory Catalog ======================================================================= Directory/Size/File COMMENT TOTAL FOLDERS: 15 TOTAL SIZE: 2.5GB ....................................................................... CPIVIEW Total: 2.6M 1.2M cpiview.sav -IDL Program required to view CPI data. 0.2M eXlogo.jpg -Image file for cpiview startup 1.2M CPIview Manual.PDF -Instruction Manual for CPIview use ....................................................................... Dec07 Total: 210M 92M 12071615.ROI 83M 12071615.OBJ 27M 12072001.ROI 8.2M 12072001.OBJ ....................................................................... DEC08 Total: 47M 9.4M 12081418.ROI .9M 12081418.OBJ 34M 12081444.ROI 2.2M 12081444.OBJ ....................................................................... DEC09 Total: 336M 26.6M 12091408.ROI 5.5M 12091408.OBJ 90M 12091506.ROI 25M 12091506.OBJ 92M 12091717.ROI 18M 12091717.OBJ 58M 12091907.ROI 21M 12091907.OBJ ....................................................................... DEC10 Total: 132M 82M 12101417.ROI 50M 12101417.OBJ ....................................................................... DEC13 Total: 271M 92M 12131457.ROI 17M 12131457.OBJ 92M 12131759.ROI 23M 12131759.OBJ 37M 12132114.ROI 20M 12132114.OBJ ....................................................................... DEC16 Total: 155M 92M 12161403.ROI 27M 12161403.OBJ 30M 12161906.ROI 6M 12161906.OBJ ....................................................................... DEC17 Total: 195M 92M 12171404.ROI 28M 12171404.OBJ 58M 12171832.ROI 17M 12171832.OBJ ....................................................................... DEC19: DEC20: -CPI NOT ON BOARD ....................................................................... JAN05 Total: 200M 84M 01051704.ROI 24M 01051704.OBJ 74M 01051927.ROI 18M 01051917.OBJ ....................................................................... JAN07 Total: 242M 92M 01071409.ROI 46M 01071409.OBJ 86M 01071742.ROI 18M 01071742.OBJ ....................................................................... JAN11 Total: 78M 62M 01111845.ROI 16M 01111845.OBJ ....................................................................... JAN12 Total: 294M 92M 01121428.ROI 57M 01121428.OBJ 92M 01121812.ROI 49M 01121812.OBJ 3.2M 01122137.ROI .02M 01122137.OBJ ....................................................................... JAN14 JAN16 JAN18 JAN19 -CPI NOT ON BOARD ....................................................................... JAN23 Total: 173M 92M 01231204.ROI 46M 01231204.OBJ 27M 01231537.ROI 8.0M 01231537.OBJ ....................................................................... JAN24 Total: 237M 92M 01241011.ROI 78M 01241011.OBJ 48M 01241412.ROI 19M 01241412.OBJ ....................................................................... ======================================================================= Description of the Cloud Particle Imager ======================================================================= The CPI captures high-resolution images (pixel size 2.3 microns) using a CCD camera. In normal operation, the CPI has a particle detection system (PDS) that triggers the camera to capture an image. This mode of operation was typically used during the primarily clear air circles flown near the beginning and end of most flights. A new mode of operation was used during most of the cloud penetrations. We call this mode 'random'. In random mode the PDS system is made ineffective by lowering the laser's powers to minimum and raising the detection thresholds to maximum. Artificial triggers are generated as fast as possible (~74/second). The laser powers and detection thresholds are recorded at 1 Hz and may be viewed via CPIView (software included with this data) to determine which mode of operation was used at any given time. Using the WYSIWYG processing option in CPIView on random mode data yields the best quantification so far realizable from a CPI. More specifics of the CPI can be found in the manual included with this data and on the SPEC webpage: www.specinc.com/cpi.htm ======================================================================= Caveats ======================================================================= Following the field phase of RICO, a careful calibration using beads revealed problems with CPIView. CPIView sizes the images accounting for diffraction blur, which significantly exaggerates the size of the droplets. This part of the software was found to not be robust. New software is under development. Contact SPEC for information on the state of this new software. ======================================================================= Data Format ======================================================================= Filenames ending in extensions of ROI are data files recorded in flight. They are in Hexadecimal format. Filenames ending in OBJ are post-processed files that contain calculated particle boundaries and particle length, width, area, and perimeter along with other parameters. Files are labeled by MMDDHHMM.ROI The hour and minutes are the start time of the data file. Small data files with no useable data were ignored for the archive. ======================================================================= DATA REMARKS ======================================================================= The CPI operated very well during RICO, any gaps in the data were due to the onboard system needing to be restarted or rebooted. The only other known problem is the imaging laser power sometimes lessened over the course of the flight. Lab tests show it probably had a negligible effect on the quality of the data. One of the PDS lasers regularly failed, but had little effect since the PDS laser system was turned off for cloud work. In order to view CPI data you will need IDL version 6.0 or higher and SPEC's CPIview.sav program. The CPIview program in RAF's Software guide probably will not work with these data files. A new version of CPIview is available for download with the data files. This version has some aspects specifically hardwired for the RICO warm clouds data.