New mobile lab for cloud remote sensing installed in Limassol

Limassol, Zypern, 28.06.2024 – Patric Seifert

The Ground-based remote sensing site (GBS) of the Cyprus Aerosol and Cloud Remote Sensing Observatory (CARO) has finally been equipped with a second container lab that houses a 35-GHz cloud radar of type Mira-35 and a microwave radiometer of type HATPRO. The implementation of the equipment within the CARO-GBS was jointly realized by a team of 4 members of the Remote Sensing Department of TROPOS and the members of the CARO team of the Eratosthenes Center of Excellence (ECoE) in Limassol.

The new container lab for cloud remote sensing complements the existing set of atmospheric remote sensing equipment of the CARO-GBS, which was so far focused on the observation of the properties of aerosols and air motion in the cloud-free troposphere and optically thin cloud layers with lidar techniques. From now on, also the microphysical and dynamical structure of thick cloud layers and especially the interactions of these with the surrounding aerosol and atmospheric turbulence can be investigated in detail. The whole partnership between TROPOS Remote Sensing Department and the CARO team happens under the umbrella of the European Union project EXCELSIOR, a 15-year project to implement a new Center for atmospheric research and associated services in the Eastern Mediterranean. The remote sensing department of TROPOS is about to provide training and consultancy to the CARO-GBS team to strengthen and focus its research and outreach capabilities.

The first joint observation of the fully equipped CARO-GBS was performed in the evening of 25^th June, as the nighttime photographs impressively demonstrate. The quicklooks of the observations of CARO-GBS, which are expected to be carried out continuously from now on, can be found here.

Eventually, the investigation of the complementarity of the aerosol and cloud observations of CARO-GBS and satellite observations will emerge as another key focus topic of the CARO team, as ECoE is about to evolve into a center for joint spaceborne and ground-based remote sensing applications. Given the potential mobility of the CARO-GBS, we can expect to see the observatory also at the one or the other location outside of Limassol in the midterm future. The TROPOS team is keen to accompany ECoE and the CARO team also during the upcoming years.

Tense waiting for the crane to be positioned when the new container laboratory is delivered.

Rodanthi Mamouri, head of the CARO team, removes the customs seal from the new radar container laboratory.

Patric Seifert (TROPOS) attaches the radar platform, which has already been moved into its final position.

The members of the TROPOS and CARO teams in front of the new radar laboratory container.

Night-time photograph of the two CARO-GBS laboratory containers. The green laser beam of the PollyXT is now part of Limassol's cityscape.