Welcome to the PCL Website

The PCL is a laser radar (lidar) which operates from the Delaware Observatory, a University of Western Ontario research facility near London, Canada (42.87 N, 81.38 W, 225 m above sea level - map).

The powerful laser emits pulses of light as bright as simultaneously turning on 1 million 75 W light bulbs! The laser light reflects off air molecules. The reflected light is collected by a large telescope formed by rotating liquid mercury at 10 r.p.m. in a 2.65 m diameter container. The liquid mirror technology has been made practical by innovative work performed at Université Laval in Québec City. The measurements allow air density, pressure, temperature and composition (for instance, water vapour) to be measured. These measurements will be used to address the question of global warming in addition to contributing to our ability to predict weather.

The PCL research project is headed by Professor Robert J. Sica of the Physics Department at the Universityof Western Ontario.

This work is primarily supported by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

Student opportunities (primarily graduate, sometimes undergraduate) are available, please contact us.

Last updated June 25, 2009