NSF/NCAR C-130 Cloud Particle Imager (CPI) Data

The CPI has two Particle Detector Sensor lasers that instruct the camera to capture an image. For RICO the CPI was put on "random mode" during cloud work usually between the 2 sets of circles during the day's C-130 flight.

In random mode the CCD camera flashes at its maximum frame rate usually 74 frames per second. This enabled the CPI to capture much more particle images since it will image anything within the sample volume at that moment. It also allows for a better determination of the sample volume and concentration since it is constantly recording and not relying on lasers to detect particles beforehand, which cannot detect every particle passing through the sample volume.