Application of tethered balloon and kite measurements using chilled mirror hygrometers during the ARM WVIOP in the fall of 1996 in Oklahoma

Technical Report · Mon Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1997

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/564112· OSTI ID:564112

Porch, W ^[1]; Balsley, B; Jensen, M ^[2]; Cole, H ^[3]; Lesht, B ^[4]; Liljegren, J ^[5]; Richardson, S ^[6]; Revercomb, H ^[7]

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1. Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
2. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
3. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)
4. Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)
5. Pacific Northwest National Lab., Richland, WA (United States)
6. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States)
7. Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)

Water vapor is the most important greenhouse gas, and its measurement is currently so imprecise that long term trends are difficult to document. This problem was the focus of a Water Vapor Intensive Operations Period (WVIOP) at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Southern Great Plains (SGP) site near Billings, OK in September 1996. The part of this comparison involved tethered-balloon and kite profiling of meteorological parameters and dew-point measurements using a light-weight chilled-mirror system. The tethered balloon system was used when the winds were less than about 12 m/s. The kite system was used when winds were in the 12--15 m/s range. In this abstract, the authors will focus on comparisons on boundary-layer profiles using the tethered systems and conventional rawinsonde measurements at ARM SGP. The tethered systems were limited to profiles up to 1 km above ground level. Of particular interest, is the representativity of the rapid-ascent measurements associated with rawinsonde launches and the longer-term profiling associated with the tethered system in the boundary layer. Comparisons show that profiles differed significantly in both temperature (1 to 2 C) and water vapor (5 to 10%). Both calibration and representativity contribute to these differences.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and Administration, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 564112
• Report Number(s): LA-UR--97-3556; CONF-980124--; ON: DE98001478
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AMBIENT TEMPERATURE
CLIMATIC CHANGE
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
HUMIDITY
HYGROMETRY
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
METEOROLOGY
MONITORING
WATER VAPOR