Measurements of Cloud Base Height and Coverage using Elastic Multiangle Lidar Scans at the Pierre Auger Observatory

Cloud features significantly affect the reconstruction of extensive air showers, and their characterization plays an important role in atmospheric monitoring. A multi-directional characterization of the cloud pattern is provided by a combination of several instruments of the atmospheric monitoring network at the Pierre Auger Observatory (Mendoza Province, Argentina). In this work, we present the results of an analysis of the cloud measurements using data taken from 2007 to 2022 by the elastic lidars positioned in the proximity of the fluorescence detector (FD) sites. These systems provide hourly measurements of cloud coverage and base height above FD. The ansatz
of horizontal homogeneity of cloud structures is tested by comparing the hourly measurements of cloud base height and coverage done simultaneously at different lidar locations. These results allow a detailed description of cloud patterns observed above the array throughout the whole period. The variation of cloud parameters is shown and quantitative conclusions about cloud homogeneity across the array of the Pierre Auger Observatory are given.