This is a project I’m working on with Dr. Greg Bothun at University of Oregon and in collaboration with Portland State Aerospace.

A short summary: Thin cirrus clouds are tricky to detect, and estimates of their global coverage are difficult to make. We are working to employ common astronomical methods to create a simple, cheap and reliable way of detecting cirrus clouds from the ground or space. In the near future, we intend to load a camera and filter system on a NASA CubeSat.

An abstract can be found at the 2016 NASA Oregon Space Grant Symposium proceedings, and this page will be updated with additional information and images soon.

Poster*: Flux Ratio Detection of Global Thin Cirrus Clouds

* The results section is somewhat out of date–it is showing a tangential method that is no longer being used.