Upper-air
CPS (Cloud Particle Sensor), combined with GPS radiosonde, provides in-situ cloud measurements including vertical distribution of cloud particles (number density, size, and the phase (water cloud-ice clouds)/shape) in addition to the fundamental meteorological elements (Temperature, Humidity, Height and Wind direction/velocity).
CPS collects ambient air samples through its duct during radiosonde’s ascent and measures floating particles with light scattering method by using one linearly polarized light source and two photodiode detectors. One detector directly measures the scattered light from the particle, and the other detects the polarization components of the scattered light.
CPS sonde is compatible with MEISEI standard GPS sonde ground system (RD-08AC) and software (MGPS-R). Output data include the number of counts per second, scattered light intensity and degree of polarization, which provide us with number density, particle size and the phase (water cloud-ice clouds)/shape of cloud particles.