TWP/MPL/C1 - Energy monitor values are erroneous

Energy monitor values should not be used to normalization the backscatter profiles. A 
problem with the energy monitor electronics forced the value to maximum. The problem was 
corrected.

• Energy output per pulse of transmitted laser beam at 523 nm (Doubled Nd-YLF)(energy_monitor)

• Raw data stream - documentation not supported(Raw data stream - documentation not supported)

TWP/MPL/C1 - Time stamps are incorrect.

The computer was experiencing time synchronization problems. The time stamp for the data 
is incorrect. The synchronization continued to get worse throughout the period.  Secondary 
results of the sync problem are data gaps. The problem exhibited itself with data gaps 
at the end of every hour. As the computer continued to get further out of sync, the 
duration of the data gaps increased.

The error in time synchronization can be corrected by comparing the MPL data with another 
instrument such as the ceilometers or MMCR. The error in time can be determined by 
looking for identical cloud structure. Then shift the MPL data in time to match the other 
instruments. Remember the error is not constant; it continues to get worst throughout the period.

• Laser temperature(laser_temp)
• Voltage level which operates the thermistor(voltage_10)
• Assumed zero-range bin number\(assumed_zero_range_bin)
• Number of laser pulses summed during measurement interval(shots_summed)
• Background signal(background_signal)
• Instrument temperature(instrument_temp)
• Filter temperature(filter_temp)
• Repetition rate, or Trigger Frequency of the laser(pulse_rep)
• effective range offset due to poor sync between laser firing and A/D trigger.(range_offset)
• Time offset from base_time(base_time)
• Detector temperature(detector_temp)
• Preliminary cloud base height above ground level(preliminary_cbh)
• Energy output per pulse of transmitted laser beam at 523 nm (Doubled Nd-YLF)(energy_monitor)
• Time offset from midnight forecast initialization time(time)
• Voltage level which operates the energy monitor(voltage_15)
• Attenuated backscatter(detector_counts)
• Voltage level which operates the A/D card and the detector(voltage_05)
• Time in nanoseconds for each range bin of multichannel scalar card.(range_bin_time)
• Time offset of tweaks from base_time(time_offset)

• Raw data stream - documentation not supported(Raw data stream - documentation not supported)