Three-View Cloud Particle Imager

• The Three-View Cloud Particle Imager (3V-CPI) is a combination of three imaging instruments. Two of them comprise a 2D-S instrument, in which two 2D probes image particles as they pass through beams that are oriented orthogonally to each other and the airflow. If particles also lie in the intersection of the sensitive areas of the two beams, they are seen by both 2D probes. In that case, the CPI is triggered to take a high-resolution picture, via a briefly illuminated high-resolution imaging array, to provide a third image at high resolution. The optical arrangement is illustrated in the following figure:

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  • The 3V-CPI mounted on a C-130 pod (left), and on a pylon under the GV wing with a protective shroud (right)

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3V-CPI has flown on both the GV and C-130, as pictured above. The probe is particularly suited to imaging ice crystals, but also provides good detection of other hydrometeors including large cloud droplets, drizzle and small rain drops, and precipitation particles.