Dataset
Met Office Cardington: cloud height measurements from a Vaisala CT25K_A Laser Ceilometer, 2014-2024
Abstract
The Met Office Observation-based research Boundary Layer Facility, at the semi-rural field site (18 Ha) of Cardington (52° 06′ N, 00° 25′ W, 29 m ± 1 m amsl) in central-southern England between 2004 and 2024, operated two Vaisala CT25K ceilometers deployed at Cardington since 2014, denoted by unit numbers A and B. This dataset covers data from unit A.
The CT25K Laser ceilometer is a general-purpose cloud height sensor employing LIDAR technology for detection of clouds, precipitation and other obstructions to vision. The CT25K provides reliable determination of cloud height up to 25,000 feet (7.5 km) thus covering most heights where dense clouds appear. It is designed to detect up to three possible cloud layers.
The Vaisala CT25K laser ceilometer measures cloud height-or vertical visibility if the cloud base is obscured. The single-lens design also ensures reliable measurements in fog, rain, snow and haze.
A full list of NetCDF variables can be found in "Continuous meteorological surface and soil records (2004-2024) at the Met Office surface site of Cardington, UK." Osborne et al. ESSD (2025). This paper should be referenced in any research/publications pertaining to this dataset.
To ensure optimal traceability and transparency of data, comprehensive metadata is included.
Details
| Previous Info: |
No news update for this record
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| Previously used record identifiers: |
No related previous identifiers.
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| Access rules: |
Public data: access to these data is available to both registered and non-registered users.
Use of these data is covered by the following licence(s): http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/ When using these data you must cite them correctly using the citation given on the CEDA Data Catalogue record. |
| Data lineage: |
Data were collected by the Met Office Meteorological Research Unit, Cardington, during its operational period. These data have been standardised for the production of this dataset, following similar file metadata conventions for all associated datasets within the continuous hydro-meteorological record (2004-2024) at the Met Office surface site of Cardington, UK Dataset Collection, as described more fully within Osborne et al., (2025). This standardisation approach addressed, where possible, any known data and metadata issues. Data were then deposited at the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) for long-term archival. |
| Data Quality: |
Data are as given by the data provider. Please see Osborne et al., (2025) for a description of quality control and assurance applied (see online resources). No quality control has been performed by the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA).
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| File Format: |
Data are NetCDF formatted
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Related Documents
Process overview
Instrument/Platform pairings
| Met Office Cardington: Vaisala CT25k Ceilometer unit A | Deployed on: Met Office Meteorological Research Unit, Cardington |
| Output Description | None |
- units: m
- standard_name: cloud_base_altitude
- var_id: cloud_level1
- long_name: Altitude of first cloud layer detected
- units: m
- var_id: cloud_level2
- long_name: Altitude of second cloud layer detected
- units: m
- var_id: cloud_level3
- long_name: Altitude of third cloud layer detected
- var_id: backscatter
- long_name: backscatter
- units: (10000.sr.km)-1
- units: degrees
- var_id: tilt
- long_name: ceilometer tilt angle from vertical
- units: m
- var_id: range
- long_name: distance of range gate from ceilometer
- units: sr-1
- var_id: integrated_backscatter
- long_name: sum of detected backscatter
- var_id: time
- units: hours
- long_name: time of data point
Co-ordinate Variables
Temporal Range
2014-07-16T00:00:00
2024-12-31T23:59:59
Geographic Extent
52.1047° |
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-0.4216° |
-0.4216° |
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52.1047° |