Ceilometer Vaisala CL51 data, Svartberget, Sweden (SE-Svb), 2018-2024
https://doi.org/10.5878/6vvt-6v20
Site description: https://oscar.wmo.int/surface/#/search/station/stationReportDetails/0-20008-0-SVB
Context:
The instrument, a Vaisala ceilometer CL51 measures ceiling or base height of cloud layers. It is installed at the Svartberget ICOS station alongside with other instruments monitoring the atmosphere and the forest ecosystem (Data access: https://data.icos-cp.eu/portal)
Data description:
Raw data converted from DAT (.dat) to NetCDF (.nc) using command line program cl2nc (Kuma, 2024) on python (Kuma et al., 2021), and the converted files are provided. Data covers a time period between 23rd of July 2018 (14:00) and 31st of December 2024 (23:00).
The variables included in the .nc files as well as the description and units can be found in the file Variable_description.tsv (tab separated values). Please see Vaisala CL51 user guide for more information regarding the variables: https://docs.vaisala.com/r/M210801EN-J/en-US (last access: 3rd February 2025) or https://github.com/peterkuma/cl2nc (last access: 3rd February 2025)
The files are hourly files with the following naming AYMMDDHH in which the first two digits (AY) refer to the year i.e. A8 = 2018, A9 = 2019, A0= 2020, A1 = 2021, A2 = 2022, A3 = 2023 and A4 = 2024. The rest six (6) digits refer to month (MM), day (DD) and hour of the day (HH).
Data resolution is approximately 10 seconds (can be set between 6-120 seconds based on the software manual) leading to 600 observations per hour if no data is missing
Some variables (layer, layer_cloud_amount, layer_height, level, sky_detection_status, time, window_contamination) are sometimes missing, mostly in the older files. They are related to the "layer"-variables and are only produced if the ceilometers Sky Condition Algorithm is active, which has not been the case especially in the beginning.
References
Kuma, P.: cl2nc (3.7.1), Zenodo, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14548122, 2024.
Kuma, P., McDonald, A. J., Morgenstern, O., Querel, R., Silber, I., and Flynn, C. J.: Ground-based lidar processing and simulator framework for comparing models and observations (ALCF 1.0), Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 43–72, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-43-2021, 2021.
The data files are provided in NetCDF format (https://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf)
Documentation files
Documentation files
Citation and access
Citation and access
Data access level:
Creator/Principal investigator(s):
Research principal:
Principal's reference number:
- SLU.esf.2025.4.2.IÄ-2
Data contains personal data:
No
Citation:
Language:
Method and outcome
Method and outcome
Time period(s) investigated:
Variables:
36
Data format/data structure:
Data collection - Physical measurements and tests
Data collection - Physical measurements and tests
Mode of collection:
Physical measurements and tests
Description of the mode of collection:
A ceilometer is a device that uses a laser or other light source to determine the height of a cloud ceiling or cloud base.
Time period(s) for data collection:
2018-07-23 - 2024-12-31
Temporal resolution:
6 second
Instrument
Instrument
Name:
Vaisala ceilometers CL51
Type:
Technical instrument(s)
Description of the instrument:
The CL51 was designed to tackle the specific challenges of cloud height and mixing layer height, especially for high range clouds. The automated system leverages a pulsed diode lidar technology and single-lens optics to gather highly detailed measurements on multiple cloud layers — even when physical visibility is limited — so you gain the comprehensive, actionable understanding of meteorological conditions you need, exactly when you need it.
Applications:
• Reliable cloud detection and reporting from low-level clouds up to high-level cirrus clouds
• Inputting cloud height and sky condition source data for situational awareness and numerical weather prediction models
• Vertical profiling data to provide comprehensive understanding of the atmosphere all the way up to 15km
• Identifying the vertical extent of aerosol layers for reliable air quality monitoring and forecasting
• Automatic monitoring of boundary layer structures and verification of numerical weather forecasting and dispersion models
• Supporting air quality data processing systems to study the interaction between pollutants and meteorological factors
Geographic coverage
Geographic coverage
Geographic location:
Geographic description:
The Svartberget site (64°15′N, 19°46′E, 270 m asl) is located about 60 km west of Umeå.
General
The Svartberget site is located in the Svartberget Experimental Forest. The experimental forest covers 1076 ha of boreal forest land and governs a manifold of research activities since 1923. A reference monitoring program of climate and water is active since 1980.
The site was established for ICOS Sweden in 2011 and hosts a Class 2 combined Ecosystem and Class 1 Atmosphere station.
The research site which is co-located with the national infrastructures SITES and ACTRIS Sweden. The ACTRIS activities at Svartberget are operated by SLU.
Administrative information
Administrative information
Responsible department/unit:
Unit for Field-based Forest Research
Funding
Funding
Funding agency:
- Swedish Research Council
Opens a new window at ror.org.
ROR
Topic and keywords
Topic and keywords
Swedish Standard Classification of Research Subjects 2025:
Relations
Relations
Is described by:
Is described by:
Has metadata:
Metadata
Metadata
Version 1
