Ceilometer Comparisons and what their data says about Backscatter and PBL in Baltimore, Maryland and Beltsville, Maryland.

Comparing backscatter data between two Lufft CHM 15k ceilometer lidar systems--specifically the lidars used at the University of Maryland--Baltimore County (UMBC) and at Howard University--Beltsville Campus (HUBV) can be done using the programming language Python’s capabilities for graphing, numerical analysis and ability to read netCDF. The purpose of using python is to create easily interpretable visualizations of the readings from and differences between the backscatter. It is important to check for differences to see if it is necessary to have both of these lidar systems in the same network. Viewing the differences might also give more insight on some of the physical phenomenon occuring at these two locations--as one is in an urban environment (UMBC) and the other in a more rural environment that is forested and has higher amounts of plant life (HUBV). For the most part these two locations should have mostly similar readings due to their closeness in proximity (physical distance). It is important to figure out if this is the case and if differences are found what may be the cause of these variations in backscatter readings.