Sigma Space MPL (Micropulse LIDAR) measures the amount and
vertical distribution of volcanic ash, clouds, and other
aerosols above Bariloche, Argentina airport. View Map See below
for HOW TO INTERPRET THE DATA. HOW TO INTERPRET THE DATA Based
on the same principles as radar, the MPL transmits laser pulses
into the atmosphere and receives the backscattered light. The
laser light transmitted by the MPL is polarized light. The MPL
receiver measures the light scattered back from the atmosphere
in two separate channels. One channel looks at the scattered
light that has the same polarization as the transmitted light.
This is the co-pol or co-polarization signal. The other channel
looks at the scattered light whose polarization has changed, or
rotated by 90 degrees, from the transmitted light. This is
cross-pol or cross-polarization signal. We are displaying two
separate graphs of real-time data. The top one shows the co-
polarized backscatter and the bottom one shows the ratio of the
cross- and co-polarized backscat