The National Weather Service Ceilometer Planetary Boundary Layer Project

The National Weather Service (NWS) is investigating the potential of utilizing the Automatic Surface Observing System’s (ASOS) cloud base height indicator, the Vaisala CL31 ceilometer, to profile aerosols in the atmosphere. Field test sites of stand-alone CL31 ceilometers have been established, primarily, around the Washington DC metropolitan area, with additional systems in southwest USA and Puerto Rico. The CL31 PBL project examines the CL31 data collected for data quality, mixing height retrieval applicability, and its compliment to satellite data. This paper reviews the topics of the CL31 data quality and mixing height retrieval applicability.