Governing Council of the University of Toronto

Published purpose

Reliable climate data is crucial for Canadians to understand how our climate is changing. The Canadian Atmospheric Laser Absorption Spectroscopy Experiment Test-bed (CALASET) aims to build a suite of instruments to verify measurements from Earth-observing satellites. It is important to ensure that these space-based instruments are performing well to produce critical climate data. The CALASET-Next Generation (CALASET-NG) project furthers this development with two main objectives: 1) develop new technologies for measuring gases in the atmosphere and provide a validation and verification capability for current and future satellite missions, and 2) provide concept-to-flight education and training for the students who will become the scientists and engineers needed for future satellite missions. The project team will design, build and test innovative instrumentation for measuring how atmospheric gas concentrations change with height, and will analyze these data following the instruments' flight on a stratospheric balloon.