The delegates of the 16th World Meteorological Congress who visited our booth (at EXHIBITION OF METEOROLOGICAL AND HYDROLOGICAL INSTRUMENTS AND EQUIPMENT, Meteohydex, in Geneva, from May 23 to May 25 2011) showed great interest in volcanic plume tracking and dust detection application of our Micro Pulse Lidar instruments.

“We were able to show real lidar data from our recent experience in Japan. In January we sent an MPL system for the detection of volcanic plume, during the eruption of Shinmoe-dake” said Savy Mathur, Program Manager of MPL Systems. The attention on how our lidar can be deployed quickly, and its ability to detect ash up to 25 km (MPL), was increased from the fact that three days before the opening of the Meteohydex exhibit, Iceland's most active volcano began erupting, spewing a column of smoke and ash as high as 12 miles (20 km) into the air. A number of meteorological agencies responsible for volcanic ash advisories for European airports contacted us for lidar data identifying the location and spread of the volcanic ash. 

Also, many delegates from North African and Arab countries were interested in dust detection. Our MPL offers significant advantages for determining the vertical structure of dust aerosols and their related optical properties. Accurate measurements of the actual change in aerosol distributions can therefore facilitate the solution of problems related either with climatology than with climate change. Our latest lidar model, the MiniMPL, optimized for the near range of the atmosphere (up to 15 km), is well suited for this kind of measurement.

Click here to know more about DUST measurements.

Our latest product, the MiniMPL, was exhibited at the 91^st American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting in Seattle (January 2011), as a fundamental tool for acquisition of weather-related data.  Our new Lidar product, and the latest version of the software we provide with our Lidar systems, increased awareness of the capability of Micro Pulse Lidar technology over traditional ceilometers.

“The ability of our compact MiniMPL to observe multiple cloud layers and aerosol dynamics has raised many eyebrows at the exhibition” said Savy Mathur, project manager of Micro Pulse Lidar Systems at Sigma Space, who has been attending the event. He has been showing real data taken by our Lidars over the past few weeks to existing and potential customers from all over the world.

With a total of 3500 attendees and 800 exhibitors the 2011 AMS meeting has been a good venue to showcase our products. “A great opportunity to display the technological advancements of our company technical functions, and an amazing moment of sharing scientific advancement and public requirements, in order to develop new applications” said Phil DeCola, our Chief Science Officer, who has been attending technical presentations at the meeting.

Sigma Space participated as an exhibitor at the NOAA Technology Summit, on November 4 2010, in the NOAA Silver Spring (MD) Science Center. 

Savy Mathur, Program Manger MPL Systems, (in the picture), and Phil DeCola, Chief Science Officer, attended the event for our Company, presenting our Micro Pulse Lidar (MPL).

“Our MPL has great appeal in the meteorological and environmental science community”, declared Savy Mathur after the event. He added that “the newly available MiniMPL along with our recently upgraded software provides a powerful tool for collection and interpretation of cloud and aerosol data. “

“In addition to highlithing our MPL technology, the summit gave us the opportunity to showcase other disruptive new technologies such as our fast 3D imaging lidar that produce revolutionary Earth observations for enhanced decision-support” said Phil DeCola.

The NOAA Technology Summit welcomed several other government agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and NASA, who also contribute their capabilities to responding to environmental challenges such as the recent oil spill and severe weather events.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a federal agency focused on the condition of the oceans and the atmosphere. www.noaa.org

Silver Spring, November 5^th 2010.

On October 6, 2010, Sigma Space participated as sponsor to the Federation of American Scientists  (FAS) Award Ceremony, held at the Carniegie Institute of Washington D.C.

Sigma decided to support the FAS as part of Sigma's commitment to support scientific communities. The Federation of American Scientists in particular is a group of esteemed scientists who promote “a more secure world by developing and advancing solutions to important science and technology security problems”.

The Awards Ceremony presented the Hans Bethe Award to Dr. John Holdren, President Obama's science advisor, who strongly stated President Obama's commitment to robust investment in research and technology development for the nation, as well as to the inclusion of the best scientific and technological information for the formulation of policy.

In the picture (from left to right) our Chief Science Officer Dr. Phil DeCola, our CEO Marcos Sirota and Dr. Steven Chu, Secretary of Energy.

On May 2010, Sigma Space Corporation participated in the International Conference held in China, by the Air & Waste Management Association, on Leapfrogging Opportunities for Air Quality Improvement.

As a vendor exhibitor, Sigma Space released the MiniMPL, a new Micro Pulse Lidar optimized for the near range of the atmosphere (up to 10 km). A product well suited for Atmospheric Boundary Layer measurements, the MiniMPL has been presented as the ideal instrument for air quality monitoring.

Attendees have largely appreciated it as one of the best examples of the latest technology in this field. Yunhui Zheng (in the picture), the Director of Optical Engineering who leads MiniMPL project in Sigma and participated to the exhibition, has collected a very good feedback in particular from the atmospheric researchers. “I still remember with satisfaction the reaction of some of them who lifted it, telling me with a face of surprise It is much more lighter than I could guess. Our product, in fact, is actually the smallest Lidar on the market. But I bet that our Lidar can be even lighter!” declared Yunhui, anticipating some of the upcoming improvement on the instrument.