In 2019, the European Space Agency (ESA) has published a Call for Tender (CfT) for a 4-year project. The purpose is the measurements of atmospheric conditions above different site around the world thanks to a measurement station called CATM-GSE (Clouds Aerosols and Turbulence Monitoring – Ground Support Equipment) to assess the optical telecommunication links availability. This campaign should late at least for two years. These measurements will be then correlated to long-term satellite databases to assess the possibility of using these later for a long-term site characterization without using in-situ measurements.

In this context, the CNRS/OCA/Lagrange Lab. has gathered a consortium called ANAtOLIA (Atmospheric moNitoring to Assess the availability of Optical LInks through the Atmosphere), and composed of European research laboratories, industrials and companies has shown on the organigram below. The partners of the consortium are: CNRS-OCA-Lagrange Laboratory, CNRS-LatmosAirbus DS FR (ADS-FR), Thales Alenia Space (TAS), Norway University (NTNU), CNRS-ICARE/AERIS, OCA-Lagrange Technical Direction, Reuniwatt, Cimel.

The purpose of this consortium is to assess the optical telecommunication links availability by designing, manufacturing, procuring and assembling a self-standing and autonomous ground support equipment precisely measuring the clouds, aerosols and turbulence conditions for atmospheric transmission characterization.

Under the framework of ANAtOLIA (Atmospheric moNitoring to Assess the availability of Optical LInks through the Atmosphere), the a new multispectral CIMEL photometer, model CE318-TL9,  has been designed to be dedicated to the monitoring of aerosol properties during daytime and nighttime at 1064 and 1550 nm with 3-minute resolution. The study of atmospheric components absorbing in these regions and their integration in the aerosol retrieval methods has been carried out at Izaña’s facilities. These facilities are also used as a platform for continuous measurements of this new photometer, to determine the ROLO correction factors needed to improve nighttime observations at these two new wavelengths.