• 40.601°N 15.723°E

Mobile platform

Italy

• Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis (IMAA)

https://ciao.imaa.cnr.it/observatory/instruments/

CIAO Mobile Platform is equipped with the state-of-the-art instruments for aerosol and clouds profiles investigation, providing the possibility for integrated aerosol and clouds studies with high temporal and vertical resolutions. It consists mainly of:
· a lidar system (M3DUSA), for multi-wavelength elastic (1064, 532, 355 nm), Raman (607, 387 nm) and depolarization (1064, 532, 355 nm) measurements for the characterization of the atmospheric particles. It is part of CARS and is one of the lidar reference systems.
· a compact cloud radar MIRA35C (by METEK GmbH), a mono-static pulsed Ka-band Doppler radar for unattended observation of clouds and fog.
· a ceilometer Vaisala CL31, working at 905 nm.
· a Scanning Doppler LiDAR - Halo Photonics Stream LineXR emitting laser light pulses at 1.5 μm and 10kHz. It provides range-resolved measurements of backscattered radiation from atmospheric aerosol/cloud particles and particles’ radial velocity.
· a microwave radiometer (next future).

The combination of the instruments following ACTRIS standards makes the CIAO mobile platform suitable for process studies, for measurement campaigns in interesting locations not equipped with such kind of complex set of instruments and as a reference for sites equipped with other types of instruments.
CIAO Mobile Platform could be of interest for field experiment in particular environments, in terms of aerosol and clouds properties, but even for specific applications like air quality, volcanic eruptions, occurrences of dust intrusion, and ice formation.
CIAO Mobile Platform is a relevant platform for satellite and model validation/evaluation campaigns to be moved where more suitable for addressing the scientific topics of the mission.
Finally, the lidar facility (M3DUSA), being part of CARS and one of the ACTRIS lidar reference systems, can be used for on-site calibration and QA assurance of lidar systems.