Cimel Sunphotometer (CSPHOT)
Instrument Categories: Aerosols, Radiometric
General Overview
![Picture of the Cimel Sunphotometer (CSPOT)](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20080916051443im_/http://www.arm.gov/instruments/images/csphot.jpg)
The Cimel sunphotometer (CSPHOT) is a multi-channel, automatic sun-and-sky scanning radiometer that measures the direct solar irradiance and sky radiance at the Earth's surface. Measurements are taken at pre-determined discrete wavelengths in the visible and near-IR parts of the spectrum to determine atmospheric transmission and scattering properties. This instrument is weather-proof and requires little maintenance during periods of adverse weather conditions. It takes measurements only during daylight hours (sun above horizon).
For more details, see the External Data Center web page.
Primary Measurements Taken
The following measurements are those considered scientifically relevant. Refer to the netCDF File Header Descriptions (Data Object Design Files) for the list of all available measurements, including those recorded for diagnostic or quality assurance purposes.
- Aerosol absorption
- Aerosol extinction
- Aerosol optical properties
- Particle number concentration
- Particle size distribution
- Precipitable water
- Shortwave narrowband radiance
Available Datastreams
- csphotalm - Cimel Sunphotometer (CSPHOT): almucantars sky radiance data
- csphotalm1dubo - Cimel Sunphotometer (CSPHOT): Dubovik almucantar retrievals
- csphotaot - Cimel Sunphotometer (CSPHOT): aerosol optical thickness data
- csphotaotfilt - Cimel Sunphotometer (CSPHOT): aerosol optical thickness, filtered data
- csphotaotfiltqa - Cimel Sunphotometer (CSPHOT): aerosol optical thickness, filtered quality assurance data
- csphotcoarsepfn1 - Cimel Sunphotometer (CSPHOT): almucantars sky radiance data, coarse mode
- csphotfinepfn1 - Cimel Sunphotometer (CSPHOT): almucantars sky radiance data, fine mode
- csphotpp - Cimel Sunphotometer (CSPHOT): principal planes data
- csphotsize - Cimel Sunphotometer (CSPHOT): derived: aerosol size distributions
- csphottotalpfn1 - Cimel Sunphotometer (CSPHOT): almucantars sky radiance data, total mode
Sites / Facilities
Note: Click the "" to expand/collapse the list.
- North Slope Alaska (NSA)
- Central Facility, Barrow AK (C1)
- Southern Great Plains (SGP)
- Central Facility, Lamont, OK (C1)
- Tropical Western Pacific (TWP)
- Central Facility, Darwin, North Australia (C3)
- Central Facility, Nauru Island (C2)
Mentor(s)
Laurie Gregory
(631) 344-2266
laurie.gregory@bnl.gov
Lynn Ma
associate
(631) 344-3813
malynn@bnl.gov
Richard Wagener
associate
(631) 344-5886
wagener@bnl.gov
Mark Klassen
associate
(580) 388-4053
markk@ops.sgp.arm.gov