Evaluation of Routine Atmospheric Scientific Measurements using Unmanned Systems (ERASMUS)

Poster PDF

Description

A recently-funded field campaign will feature the use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to obtain atmospheric measurements over the DOE ARM Oliktok Point site. As a part of this work, six "micro-class", low-cost, unmanned aircraft will be constructed and instrumented by University of Colorado scientists working with specialists from NASA and Droplet Measurement Technologies (DMT). These aircraft will feature instrumentation to measure basic atmospheric quantities such as temperature, humidity, winds and pressure, along with instrumentation to obtain slightly more exotic quantities related to cloud microphysics, radiation, and aerosols. These aircraft will be deployed to the DOE Oliktok Point facility for a two-week field campaign aimed at obtaining measurements designed to help address the following scientific questions: - How do profiles of temperature and humidity evolve during transitions between clear and cloudy atmospheric states? - How do aerosol properties vary with height at high latitude locations? - What role do moisture inversions play in the lifecycle of Arctic mixed-phase clouds, and how does their structure evolve in space and time? - How well do current remote-sensing retrievals perform in the Arctic environment? - What is the spatial variability of heat and moisture fluxes over ice and land surfaces? In addition to obtaining these measurements, ERASMUS will serve as a test case to evaluate the potential for future atmosphere measurements using UAS at the Oliktok Point site. This poster will provide an overview of activities planned as a part of ERASMUS, including information on aircraft, measurement systems, field campaign plans, and near-term plans for advancing ERASMUS activities.