Abstract

The Experimental Cloud Lidar Pilot Study (ECLIPS) was formulated in 1988 to explore the feasibility of obtaining a longterm climatology of cloud base height and cloud optical properties using groundbased lidar (WMO, 1988). Data obtained by all participants in ECLIPS will be collected in a single archive to form a database of lidar-derived cloud properties. This archive is being compiled at NASA Langley Research Center and will become part of the NCDC (National Climate Data Center) database when completed. Observations are made coincident with overpasses of the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) instrument carried on the NOAA-10 and NOAA-11 satellites. The ECLIPS archive can then be used as ground validation for satellite retrieval methods, leading to improved predictions of surface energy balance from satellite radiance data.

© 1991 Optical Society of America