The Atmospheric Monitoring system of the JEM-EUSO telescope

Abstract: The JEM-EUSO observatory on board of the International Space Station (ISS) is a proposed pioneering space mission devoted to the investigation of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs). Looking downward at the earth's atmosphere with a 60$^\circ$ Field of View (FoV), the JEM-EUSO telescope will detect the fluorescence and Cherenkov UV emission from UHECR induced Extensive Air Showers (EAS) penetrating in the atmosphere. The capability of reconstructing the properties of the primary cosmic ray depends on the accurate measurement of the atmospheric conditions in the region of EAS development. The Atmospheric Monitoring system of JEM-EUSO will continuously monitor the atmosphere at the location of the EAS candidates and between the EAS and the JEM-EUSO telescope. With an UV LIDAR and an Infrared (IR) Camera the system will monitor the cloud cover and retrieve the cloud top altitude with an accuracy of $\sim$ 500 m and the optical depth profile of the atmosphere with an accuracy of $\Delta\tau \leq$ 0.15 and a resolution of 500 m. In this contribution the Atmospheric Monitoring system of JEM-EUSO will be presented. After a brief description of the system, the capability to recover the cloud top height and optical depth and to reconstruct the shower profile will be shown based on satellites data and simulation studies.