Description: | On 20081112 the filter wheel for the wide field-of-view (WFOV) channel was incorrectly
rotated. The net effect was that we were recording neutral density filter data when we
should have been collecting data with the channels completely blocked (mode 0 data). As a
result, the WFOV mode 0 data contains contributions from the pulse return and the solar
background that should not be present. The mode 0 data is used in the rlprof_merge VAP to
remove the electronic background level from the analog signal. After the problem was
identified the filter wheel was set back to its proper rotation on 20090112.
A work-around has been implemented in the rlprof_merge VAP to handle the lack of valid
mode 0 during the affected period. The work-around involves computing the electronic
background from pre-pulse data during nighttime periods only. With this technique we are not
able to estimate the range-dependence of the electronic backgound, as we did before.
However, this range dependence is typically quite weak, and so the impact on the rlprof_merge
output is expected to be minimal. |