[NatureNS] Straight Green Line in the Sky

Date: Tue, 26 Jul 2011 14:53:10 -0300
From: g4syth@staff.ednet.ns.ca
To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca,
Cc: NatureNS <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>, Roy Bishop <rlb@eastlink.ca>
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Hi all,

The green light in Wolfville is explained very well at;

  http://www.coralnet.ca/aboutcoral.html

"The Canadian Operational Research Aerosol Lidar Network (CORALNet)  
was established in 2008 to look at the degree of long-range  
transported aerosols.  Aerosols are tiny particles suspended in the  
air. Some occur naturally (biogenic), coming from volcanoes, dust  
storms, forest and grassland fires, living vegetation and sea spray  
while others result from human activities (anthropogenic), such as  
burning fossil fuels and altering natural surface cover."

At this website there is a map where you can click on the Acadia site  
(or others across Canada) and view the various results of the lidar,  
(up to date or you can view days in the past) it graphs the aerosols  
at two wave lengths showing the height in the atmosphere where they  
were recorded and the density of them, the temperature, humidity and  
atmospheric pressure, wind direction and speed, and rain rate.

It is interesting to view the graphs for days that we notice something  
of significance; days when it seemed humid, or colourful sunsets, or  
hazy or smoggy days. The graphs are very different on these days. Also  
the comparison of the same day at different sites across the country  
is interesting.

There is far more information here than what I understand but I am  
hopeful that those that do will use this tremendous volume of data to  
help explain various climate patterns and help all of us make good  
decisions.

George Forsyth



Quoting "James W. Wolford" <jimwolford@eastlink.ca>:

> We in Wolfville have a similar green laser that is aimed sharply
> upward from the Irving Centre on campus, and it is my understanding
> that somehow it samples and monitors aerosols in the atmosphere?   Ours
> has been in operation for at least a couple of years and is  often
> quite obvious to us.  I have heard too that they have some  arrangement
> to not disrupt flights that pass through that area and  sometimes turn
> off the laser.  Cheers from Jim in Wolfville
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
>> From: "Stephen R. Shaw" <srshaw@Dal.Ca>
>> Date: July 24, 2011 12:16:37 AM ADT
>> To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca, Shawn Miner <preserve101@hotmail.com>
>> Cc: "naturens@chebucto.ns.ca " <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>
>> Subject: Re: [NatureNS] Straight Green Line in the Sky
>> Reply-To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
>>
>> There's a green laser system run off the top of the A&A Building at  
>>   Dalhousie some nights by atmospheric science people at the uni.    
>>  It's called LIDAR or some similar acronym and is used to sample  
>> the   atmosphere (the bounced-back beam is analyzed).  If it is  
>> misty or   cloudy, it is more noticeabl and was running last night  
>> too.
>> Steve, Halifax
>>
>> Quoting Shawn Miner <preserve101@hotmail.com>:
>>
>>> Good Evening,
>>>
>>> I'm out on Queen St. in Halifax and there is a long, morphing    
>>> green line in the sky.  Any guesses on what it might be?
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Shawn
>>> Sent from my BlackBerry.
>>
>>



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