Swiss lasers map volcanic ash cloud
Laser weather technology, originally devised for 3D humidity maps, is the ideal solution for monitoring the volcanic ash cloud, says a top MeteoSwiss official.
Bertrand Calpini and his team at the MeteoSwiss Aerological Station in Payerne have been using the innovative Light Detection and Ranging (Lidar) weather measurement system to map the ash cloud over Switzerland.
The Federal Civil Aviation Office said on Monday morning that the cloud, which arose following the eruption of a volcano in Iceland on April 14, remained over the country and another ash cloud was expected soon.
Large parts of Europe enforced no-fly rulings for a fifth day on Monday because of the cloud, causing the worst air travel chaos since the September 11 attacks.
The high-tech instrument, launched in 2008, provides continuous data on the vertical distribution of humidity in the atmosphere up to an altitude of 10km. It can also detect fine particles, including pollen, and can build up 3D temperature profiles.
swissinfo.ch: How is the Lidar system, originally devised for measuring humidity, being used to monitor the ash cloud?
Bertrand Calpini: A laser fires a beam into the atmosphere; if there is a cloud of volcanic particles, they act as tiny mirrors and reflect part of the laser light to the ground. We have a system of telescopes that filters various signals and measures the altitude of the ash cloud, its lower and upper levels, and the intensity of particles.
A colleague, Bruno Neininger, is also flying a glider equipped with various sensors to measure concentrations.
Over the past few days we’ve combined resources between the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne and MeteoSwiss to get the best possible signal of the evolution of the ash cloud and to inform the Federal Civil Aviation Office.
There are other Lidar systems in Europe that can monitor air particles, but the analysis and information we provided this weekend was of very high added-value.
We can be proud of the advanced high-tech system here in Payerne. This is at the frontier between operational tools and the research and development world.
Full News Story at: Swissinfo.ch
