While the immediate problem of this research is not to measure the thickness of Sc, it is closely related and is part of future research. The main issue is trying to determine what the wind profiler observations over the eastern Pacific Ocean are telling us with the help of ceilometer data. While most profilers are used to measure horizontal winds, the one used in this research displayed three different variables: reflectivity, vertical velocity, and spectral width. The data collected and used was obtained from the Pan American Climate Study (PACS) 2004 research cruise which took place over the eastern Pacific Ocean off the coast of South America. A possible observation that the wind profiler displays may be the marine boundary layer (MBL), which is seen as a bright line in the reflectivity at around 1.5 km high because of the enhanced reflectivity from the humidity and temperature gradients. Research is still ongoing, but the MBL hypothesis will be further analyzed.
If concluded to be the marine boundary layer, then future research can be done to calculate the thickness of Sc and better understand their role in Earth’s energy budget.