UWKA Capabilities and Plans Al Rodi Facility Manager
UWKA: Capabilities and Plans Al Rodi Facility Manager Prof. and Head
UWKA • Bit of history (milestones) • Where we are in the development • Where we are going
Department Facilities • * King Air Research Aircraft • Balloon Launch Facility • * Wyoming Cloud Radar • Elk Mountain Observatory
1960’s: Formation – Natural Resources Research Institute • Don Veal – founding head – Do. I Bureau of Reclamation funding – cloud physics/ weather modification • Elk Mountain Observatory • Twin Beech N 600 UW – Faculty recruitment • Gabor Vali • John Marwitz • Augie Auer – Staff recruitment • Dennis Knowlton • Ken Endsley • Larry Irving
1970’s: Large projects • Department of Atmospheric Science (1971) • Particle measurement advances (PMS probes) • Emphasis: Cloud and aerosol measurements – Queen Air N 10 UW (1972 -1981) and King Air N 2 UW (1977 - present) – Faculty PI involvement • Do. I Bureau of Reclamation -- Seeding physical studies – High Plains Experiment (1977 -81) Rainfall augmentation – Sierra Cooperative Pilot Project (1977 -1985) Snowfall augmentation
1980’s: transition – King Air development: • Burec instruments transferred to NSF • KA Base fund (NSF Cooperative Agreement- 1987 present) Ice crystals slides being sampled during HIPLEX and SCPP
1990 -present: Further development – Wyoming Cloud Radar (WCR) 95 GHz airborne cloud radar development (PI funding – NASA/ONR/NSF/UW) – Partial NSF base funding of WCR (2004) System operator and “ 4 th seat” observer
Capabilities: Mission profile • Hawker Beechcraft 200 T twin-engine turboprop • Modified for 14, 000 lb takeoff weight • Certification: FAA Part 91, restricted category • Strong engines • 28, 000 ft (RVSM restriction) • Research flight speeds ~90 m s-1 • Mission duration 4 to 4. 5 hours • Single pilot operations typical • 3 -4 scientific crew • Certified for operations in known icing conditions
Airframe modifications • Nose boom • Wing-tip pods • Universal mounting ports on fuselage • Aerosol inlets • WCR radar “wing”
Right-seat scientist Single pilot operation: flight scientist can sit in the right seat of the cockpit and easily interact directly with the pilot and system scientist during flight. Views from copilot seat
UWKA Capabilities Typical research applications include: • Cloud physics studies • Boundary-layer, turbulence/flux studies • Mesoscale dynamics • Air-sea interaction • Tropospheric profiling • Radiometric measurements • Satellite ground truth • Atmospheric chemistry • Aerosol studies • Airborne remote sensing
Wyoming Cloud Radar (WCR) Photo by Vanda Grubisic http: //www. atmos. uwyo. edu/wcr
WCR Milestones • The idea (late 1980’s): Install a cloud radar on a small research aircraft carrying a suite of in situ instrumentation: UW Profs. G. Vali and R. Kelly. • Collaborative work with Prof. R. Mc. Intosh, Univ. Mass: installation on Elk Mountain near Laramie.
WCR Milestones • 1995: WCR was built by Quadrant Engineering, Inc. (now Pro. Sensing, Inc. ) • Equal split between the NSF, ONR and UW. • 1995 -2004 : support from science grants from NSF, DOD, DOE, NASA and UW • 2004 : partial support for WCR added to the 5 th UW/NSF cooperative agreement • Dave Leon: UWKA Nadir port funding and multi-beam Doppler analysis (Leon et al, 2006: J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech; and Leon and Vali, 1998: J. Atmos. and Oceanic Tech. • Sam Haimov: Radar scientist—calibration, user interface, developing radar data processing and analysis software, engineering improvements and WCR 2 design.
WCR Transmit Frequency 94. 92 GHz Peak Power / Duty Cycle 1. 6 KW / 1 % Pulse 100 -1000 ns Pulse Repetition Frequency (prf) 100 Hz – 20 KHz Antennas: 4 aperture / beamwidth / polarization 0. 31 m / 0. 7° / H, V 0. 31 m / 0. 7° / single, linear 0. 46 m / 0. 5° / single, linear 0. 38 m / 0. 6° / single, linear ▪ ▪ Side/Up Side-fore Down-fore Antenna modes (typical): ▪ DPDD ▪ HBDD or HBDD+down ▪ profiling +side ▪ VPDD or up/side+VPDD ▪ Profiling up+down or side+down Beams: 1, 2, 3, 4 1, 3 or 1, 3, 2 2, 4 or 1, 2, 4 1, 2 Receiver channels: ▪ receiver outputs: ▪ receiver dynamic range 2 mag: log; phase: linear > 70 d. B Dwell time/ Along-track sampling 30 ms / 3 – 5 m (typical) Min. detectable signal (sideantenna) -30 d. BZ @ 1 km, 250 ns, 500 avrg Resolution: ▪ range ▪ volume @ 1 km, 250 ns pulse 15 – 75 m 37 x 12 x 15 m Doppler velocity processor: ▪ pulse pair ▪ fft spectrum (single beam only) 1 st & 2 nd moments 32 or 64 bins Max unambiguous Doppler ± 15. 8 m/s
WCR Damiani, Vali and Haimov, 2006: JAS, 1432– 1450 [Hi. CU 03]
Where we are we going? • WCR-2 • Airborne lidar (WCL) – Elastic – Raman • WCR/WCL integration • Upgraded cloud physics instruments • Upgrade flux instruments
WCR-2 Reliability Designed with partner Pro. Sensing Modulator: Pulse Systems (higher duty cycle) W-band klystron amplifier: CPI 5 -port switching network: EMS (more antennas) Improved polarimetric antenna: Millitech Transmitter and receiver RF: Pro. Sensing Firmware and testing: Pro. Sensing Antenna inst, new waveguides, cabinets, FAA approval: UW • Online winter 2007 • • •
Wyoming Cloud Lidar (WCL) PI: Zhien Wang (UW/ATSC) • Compact, low-power, elastic polarimetric LIDAR for airborne use • http: //www-das. uwyo. edu/~zwang/RSG_EL. html
Wyoming Cloud Lidar (WCL) Specifications: Eye-safe (UV) at 60 m Ultra-pulsed Nd: YAG laser from Big Sky Laser Technique, Inc Transmit wavelength 355 nm Transmit pulse length 10 ns (3 m) Range gate resolution 3. 75 m Pulse Rep. Frequency 10 Hz Beam Width ~ 1 cm + 0. 3 mrad Pulse Averaging (typical) 1 -4 (typical) 0. 1 -0. 4 s along track Detector(s) 2 orthogonal PMT (co- & cross-pol pwr)
WCL Tested early 2007 Projects: • ICE-L (this fall) • VOCALS (late 2008)
WCL View of Lidar Port (top of fuselage looking forward)
Combining WCL and WCR data • Cloud macrophysical properties – Ice/water discrimination – Ice and water cloud layer boundaries • Cloud microphysical properties – Ice clouds: water content and general effective radius (Dge) profiles – Water clouds: Adiabatic liquid water path (LWP), layer mean effective radius (reff) (if cloud top is detected by WCR), some drizzle properties. – Mixed-phase clouds: ice water content and Dge profiles, LWP and reff.
WCL Supercooled Water WCR Reflectivity WCL Backscatter WCL Depolarization 2 -DC Concentration LWC Ice precipitation
WCL/WCR combined retrievals WCR Ze WCL Power WCL Extinction IWC Dge
Education and outreach • Our educational mission – Graduate and undergraduate education – Outreach
Safety • Safety management system certification – International Business Aviation Council – IS-BAO standard – Certification almost complete
Where from here? • Raman lidar installation – Z. Wang (NSF career grant) • Upgrade cloud physics suite – Cloud particle imager (CPI) – SPEC – 2 D probes (DMT? ) – FSSP (DMT? ) – Liquid water/total water probes • H 2 O/CO 2 flux upgrade • Miniaturization – Data system (on-line this winter) – Inertial measurement unit From specinc. com
Where from here?
A more modest goal
Contact us Alfred Rodi, Facility Manager rodi@uwyo. edu Jeffrey French, Project Manager jfrench@uwyo. edu Perry Wechsler, Chief Engineer wex@uwyo. edu Sam Haimov, Radar Scientist haimov@uwyo. edu Atmospheric Science Dept. 3038 University of Wyoming College of Engineering and Applied Science 1000 E University Ave. Laramie, WY 82071 Ph: (307) 766 -3245 Fax: (307) 766 -2635 http: //flights. uwyo. edu/n 2 uw http: //www. atmos. uwyo. edu
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