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1 Frequently asked questions |
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2 ========================== |
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3 |
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4 Is it necessary to provide only measurment periods with cloud free conditions and |
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5 homogeneous atmosphere or is this part of ELDA or the pre processing of the data? |
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6 For example in cases with scattered low cumulus clouds. |
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7 |
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8 At moment you should provide cloud free data because the automatic cloud screening |
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9 is not yet implemented in the SCC. We are working on this issue and hopefully the new |
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10 module will be implemented at the end of ACTRIS project . |
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11 |
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12 What is the definition of low range, ultra near range and high range channels? |
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13 Are there any threshold values? |
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14 |
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15 There are no threshold values defined for the different range types. This information |
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16 is used only in the gluing procedures just to identify which channel should be taken |
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17 as low range and which one as far range. If no gluing is applied by the SCC the range |
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18 id flags are not taken into account. |
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19 |
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20 Due to changes in the settings of our lidarsystem, the depolarization factor can |
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21 change during the measurement. Is it necessary to provide one SCC-file for each settings |
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22 or is it possible to set the Depolarization_Factor variable time dependent? |
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23 |
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24 Unfortunately it is not possible to have time dependence on Depolarization_Factor variable. |
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25 So if this parameter changes you should provide different SCC files for each setting. |
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26 |
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27 Is it possible for documentation purposes to put own parameters in the SCC-NetCDF file? |
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28 For example who created the file.... Are there any reasons against this? |
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29 |
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30 Technically as long as you use not standard SCC variables for your own parameters there are |
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31 no problems for the SCC. It will just ignore these not standard variables. |
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32 |
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33 Which NetCDF version is to use? NetCDF3, NetCDF3 Classic, NetCDF4, NetCDF4 Classic? |
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34 |
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35 The NetCDF libraries 4.1.3 are used in all the SCC modules. So all the NetCDF formats you |
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36 have indicated should be compatible with the SCC (we have tested NetCDF3 and NetCDF4). |
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37 |
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38 What are the values for the lidar ratio used in the SCC_DB? |
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39 |
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40 The values of (fixed) lidar ratio used by the SCC in the elastic retrieval can be set by |
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41 the user using the SCC web interface. In particular you can define a lidar ratio value for |
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42 each elastic backscatter product: in the product page there is the section “Elastic Backscatter |
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43 options” in which there is the field “Fixed lr”. In case you want to use a lidar ratio profile |
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44 you should set LR_Input accordingly and provide an external LR profile NetCDF file |
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45 (see documentation on SCC file format). |
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46 |
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47 In cases of measurements where Raman channels are available, the SCC will calculate the Raman |
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48 backscatter profile. If I want to retrieve Klett-retrievals for this channel, too (e.g 532nm) |
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49 is it sufficient to set the value in LR_input(channels) to 1 or 0 plus a LR-profile to get |
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50 both retrievals? |
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51 |
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52 No. In general, for each lidar configuration you can define a set of optical products to be calculated |
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53 for that configuration using the SCC web interface. So suppose you have a system with 532nm and 607nm |
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54 channels. In this case you have 2 options: |
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55 #. Raman backscatter and extinction in the e532 file and Raman backscatter (full resolution) in the b532 |
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56 file. In this case you should associate to the configuration a product of type “lidar ratio and will |
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57 produce the e532 file and a product of type “Raman backscatter” which will produce the b532 file |
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58 #. Raman backscatter and extinction in the e532 file and elastic backscatter in the b532 file. |
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59 In this case you should associate to the configuration a product of type “lidar ratio and extinction” |
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60 which will produce the e532 file and a product of type “elastic backscatter” which will produce the b532 file |
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61 |
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62 Note: you cannot calculate a b532 file containing the Raman and elastic backscatters at the same time. |
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63 The reason is that the 2 products will produce an output file with the same name (according to the EARLINET rules). |
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64 Moreover in general, it makes no sense to calculate the elastic backscatter when you can calculate the Raman |
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65 one which usually is better. |
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66 |
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67 What are the conventions for the filnames for the various files that need to be uploaded? |
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68 |
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69 The following definitions apply: |
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70 - SCC raw lidar data file |
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71 |
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72 This file should be named as measID.nc. For example if your measurement had a measurementID of 20130101cc00 the corresponding NetCDF file should be named 20130101cc00.nc |
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73 |
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74 - Sounding file |
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75 |
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76 The file should be named as rs_measID.nc. Considering the above example the sounding file should be named rs_20130101cc00.nc |
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77 |
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78 In this case you should also set the global attribute Sounding_File_Name in the raw lidar data file as: |
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79 |
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80 Sounding_File_Name=rs_20130101cc00.nc |
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81 |
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82 - Lidarration file |
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83 |
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84 The file should be named as lr_measID.nc. Considering the above example the sounding file should be named lr_20130101cc00.nc |
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85 |
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86 In this case you should also set the global attribute LR_File_Name in the raw lidar data file as: |
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87 |
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88 LR_File_Name=lr_20130101cc00.nc |
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89 |
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90 - Overlap file |
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91 |
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92 The file should be named as ov_measID.nc. Considering the above example the sounding file should be named ov_20130101cc00.nc |
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93 |
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94 In this case you should also set the global attribute Overlap_File_Name in the raw lidar data file as: |
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95 |
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96 Overalp_File_Name=ov_20130101cc00.nc |
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97 |
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98 |
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99 |
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100 |