CPEX-LAB installed first instrument in the city of Cologne
In March 2021 the University of Cologne installed a HATPRO microwave radiometer in the city of Cologne, as part of the regional CPEX-LAB network for atmospheric observations in the Rhineland area.
Copyright: R. Haseneder-Lind
The microwave radiometer is located on a roof of a university building at Zülpicher Straße close to the city’s inner green belt (‘Grüngürtel’). It measures temperature profiles as well as water vapor content and cloud liquid water. The instrument marks the beginning of the setup of a suite of atmospheric measurements at the University of Cologne. In collaboration with the city administration, CPEX-LAB is currently on the way to extend the instrumentation at Cologne to measure meteorological conditions within the city. The comparison with similar observations in a rural environment at the JOYCE observatory in Jülich (~40 km west of Cologne) will allow estimating the effect from big cities on the atmospheric boundary layer. Furthermore, CPEX-LAB plans to increase the awareness for atmospheric observations and research topics in the public.
