CAPAC is a series of three instruments: the Forward Scattering Spectrometer Probe model 300 (FSSP-300), the Two Dimensional Optical Array Probes [Cloud and Precipitation Probes (2D-P)] and the CAPAC video. These instruments flew during CAMEX-3 upon the NASA DC-8 mounted on the left wing. Cloud and aerosol particles were exposed to laser light to measure particle size from 0.3 micrometer to 6.4 millimeter, and both size and shape between 40 micrometer and 6.4 millimeter particle diameter as function of particle size. The size distributions thus determined were integrated to yield particle surface area, and ice and liquid water contents in clouds and precipitation. The purpose of the CAMEX-3 mission was to study hurricanes over land and ocean in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, and Western Atlantic Ocean in coordination with multiple aircraft and research-quality radar, lightning, radiosonde and rain gauge sites.