Micro Pulse Lidar Network (MPLNET)

The NASA Micro Pulse Lidar Network (MPLNET) (Welton et al., 2001) is a federated network of Micro Pulse Lidar (MPL) systems designed to measure aerosol and cloud vertical structure continuously, day and night, over long time periods required to contribute to climate change studies and provide ground validation for models and satellite sensors in the NASA Earth Observing System (EOS). At present, there are eighteen active sites worldwide, and three more in the planning stage. Numerous temporary sites have been deployed in support of various field campaigns and two more are planned in 2010. Most MPLNET sites are co-located with sites in the NASA Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) (Holben et al., 1998) to provide both column and vertically resolved aerosol and cloud data. MPLNET data and more information on the project are available at http://mplnet.gsfc.nasa.gov.

References:

Holben B.N., T.F.Eck, I.Slutsker, D.Tanre, J.P.Buis, A.Setzer, E.Vermote, J.A.Reagan, Y.Kaufman, T.Nakajima, F.Lavenu, I.Jankowiak, and A.Smirnov, AERONET - A federated instrument network and data archive for aerosol characterization. Rem. Sens. Environ., 66, 1-16, 1998.

Welton, E. J., J. R. Campbell, J. D. Spinhirne, and V. S. Scott, Global monitoring of clouds and aerosols using a network of micro-pulse lidar systems, in Lidar Remote Sensing for Industry and Environmental Monitoring, U. N. Singh, T. Itabe, N. Sugimoto, (eds.), Proc. SPIE, 4153, 151-158, 2001.