NCAR
Research Aviation Facility
CSU visit 11-April-2007
Dave Rogers - http://www.eol.ucar.edu/~dcrogers/index.html
Airborne Research
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Outline
U.S. Federal airborne science fleet
NSF C-130 & HIAPER
Anatomy of RAF
PACDEX
Tour C-130 & G-V
Corporation of North American universities
UCAR
mission = advance national interests & capabilities in
atmospheric & related sciences.
NSF-funded research & development center
- missions in research, facilities, education, tech transfer
NCAR
EOL
Provides observing system tools for world-wide research
UCAR Mesa Lab
Boulder CO
RAF
Airborne research
Federal Airborne Science Fleet
USN
P-3
UND
NOAA
P-3
NASA
ER-2
NASA
DC-8
Federal Airborne Science Fleet
NASA
WB-57
NASA
Proteus
NASA
Twin Otter
DOE
G-1
University Aircraft
S. Dakota T-28
UND Citation
Univ. Wyoming King-Air
EOL Systems: Partnerships
NCAR Electra - retired
NRL P-3 now
carries NCAR
Doppler radar
C130 Research Aircraft
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Atmospheric Boundary Layer
Oceanography
Air/Sea Interaction
Cloud Physics
Tropospheric Profiling
Radiometric Measurements
Atmospheric Chemistry
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Aerosol Measurements
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10 Hours Endurance
Range 3100 nm
Max Operating Altitude 26,000 ft
23,000 lb (13,000 with max fuel)
Electrical Power
– 90kVA @ 115 Vac 400 Hz;
– 21kVA @ 115Vac 60 Hz;
– 400A @ 28Vdc
C-130
• basic instruments
• adjustable configurations
• investigator instruments
HIAPER
High-performance Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental Research
Gulfstream-V
Modifications 2003 – 2005+
missions: ProgSci 2005, T-REX 2006, PACDEX 2007
HIAPER - performance
Endurance
Range
Air speeds
Altitude Max
Payload
Crew
Electrical Power
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10 h
6,000 nm
120 – 230 m/s
51,000 ft
3,400 lb
2 pilots + 8 sci
20kVA @ 115/208 vac 400 Hz;
21kVA @ 115 vac 60 Hz;
5 kW @ 28 vdc
RAF Strength: Great Staff
Field Project Support
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RAF staff of 35 people:
project management scientists
software engineers
electrical & instrumentation engineers
aeronautical engineer
instrument technicians
aircraft mechanics
pilots & flight engineers
scientists
administration
Data Systems, Software, Processing, and Archival
tools for data display and analysis
free! - http://www.eol.ucar.edu/raf/Software/
RAF Field Projects
Earlier projects:
2000 TOPSE – Greenland to Manitoba
1999 MAPS – Italy-Austria-Switzerland
1999 INDOEX - Indian Ocean
1998 SHEBA - Alaska
PACDEX - tracking Asian dust plume
= step descent/ascent profiles
deviating to sample clouds
(See next figures)
PACDEX Japan-Japan Flight
Russian
Airspace
JAPAN
1 hr
Get above plume
During ferry to
Sampling region
Hawaii
Plume track determined by forecast (only one plume)
PACDEX - wing store instruments
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UHSAS = aerosol size distr 70 -1000 nm
CDP = cloud droplet probe, 2 - 60 µm
2DC = cloud particle size distr & images ~100-1600 µm
SID-2H = cloud particle size distr & phase, 2 - 60 µm
RICE = supercooled cloud water
King = liquid water condensate (g m-3)
video = forward looking
PACDEX – cabin
2 – pilots
1 – mechanic
7 - science crew
9 - instrument racks
PACDEX - cabin instruments
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state parameters (T, P, humidity) + winds
water vapor
ozone
CO = carbon monoxide
HARP = radiation (actinic flux + spectral irradiance ~0.4 - 2 µm)
CVI = cloud condensate (> 5 µm, cloud particle residuals)
CFDC (CSU) = ice nucleating aerosol particles
CCN = cloud condensation nuclei (~0.2 – 1% ss)
SP-2 = soot particles (>100 nm size & conc)
streakers + impactor = aerosol particle collectors for SEM analysis
RDMA = aerosol size distribution (10 – 150 nm)
CN = total particle conc.
GNI = giant nuclei impactor ( > 2 µm)
satcom = satellite telephone data communications
real-time display stations + Internet Relay chat
more about PACDEX - http://www.eol.ucar.edu/projects/pacdex/
dynamic heating of air samples
• predictable from thermodynamics
• loss of volatile components from particles
o
tour C-130 & HIAPER
Photos of G-V’s green parts are not allowed.
Otherwise, take all the pictures you want.
More information about RAF
http://raf.atd.ucar.edu/