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Echo in the sky

New system to map atmospheric humidity.

A new ‘LIDAR’ measurement system in Payerne Switzerland is to provide continuous data on atmospheric humidity for Western Switzerland's weather forecasting headquarters.

LIDAR is a relative of the RADAR system but instead of sending radio waves for weather forecasting, LIDAR sends a beam of light vertically into the sky, which creates an ‘echo’ from the reflection of that light from different layers in the atmosphere.

It is this reflection that will be used to build an instantaneous vertical profile of temperature and humidity.
The laser beam can be shot 30 times a second, offering a significant improvement on weather balloons that take minutes to reach the upper level of the atmosphere and can only be sent out a few times a day.

LIDAR is a joint initiative by EPFL, the Swiss National Science Foundation and Switzerland's National Weather service, MeteoSwiss. According to project leader and EPFL Professor Hubert van den Bergh, "This LIDAR will serve as a reference for future or existing systems, especially since this kind of remote sensing is experiencing rapid development."

The new LIDAR system will operate at the Center for Technical Measurements at MeteoSwiss' Payerne weather service.

Laser scanning

Meet a Role Model who conducts laser spectrography to study the dynamics of gas phase reactions.