The ceilometer computer has been developed to provide a display and electrical readout of cloud-height information for use with an automatic weather station.

A microprocessor-based automated display system for the Rotating Beam Ceilometer (RBC) was developed to demonstrate the feasibility of modernizing and improving the present display system.

Two laser ceilometers were tested. One was a ruby system manufactured by ASEA of Sweden, and the other was a prototype eye-safe erbium lidar developed by the American Optical Corporation, Framingham, Massachusetts.

In this thesis, a new lidar (light detection and ranging) ceilometer capable of monitoring cloud base and sensitive to boundary layer aerosols is introduced.

A new evaluation of a ruby lidar ceilometer was performed at AFCRL as part of a program to evaluate the applicability of lasers to determine cloud height for airfield use.

Objective methods and their accuracies for deriving current and six-hour forecasts of cloud amount and ceiling from satellite data are presented.

The capability and performance of the AN/GMQ-13 Cloud Height Set, commonly referred to as the Rotating Beam Ceilometer (RBC), was reviewed.