THE GREEN LIGHTS seen in the night sky in western Barbados are for research into the long-range transport of Saharan mineral dust across the Atlantic Ocean into the Caribbean.
The lights, seen in Husbands and West Terrace, St James, and nearby areas, are called light detection, ranging and distance measurement devices (LIDAR) and are being used in an Aerosol Cloud and Atmospheric Study being conducted at the Caribbean Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH).
The institute, which is in Husbands, is conducting a research study entitled the Saharan Aerosol Long-Range Transport and Aerosol-Clod-Interaction Experiment (SALTRACE) in collaboration with several universities and institutes from Germany.
“The green lights that the nearby residents of West Terrace and Husbands have been seeing over the past few weeks is a laser beam that is being used to analyze aerosol components in the atmosphere so there is a contingent of German researchers here in the island,” research liaison officer Damien Prescod said.
