TLCV

The time-lapsed cloud video (TLCV) camera provides a record of sky conditions by recording color images of an approximately 100-degree field of view, centered on the zenith. The time interval between images is typically set to 4 or 8 seconds, providing a high-time-resolution record of cloud conditions. Data (images as well as date and time of observations) is stored to S-VHS tape at 470 lines of horizontal resolution. Up to one month of observations may be recorded to a single analog video tape.

This camera system was installed at the Southern Great Plains (SGP) site on 15 September 1997 and operated through 14 September 2001. The TLCV was intended to provide a qualitative record of the sky conditions above the SGP, not the more quantitative record provided by the whole sky imager (WSI), which yields a digital mapping of sky conditions.

• Cloud fraction