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

Conference · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1998

OSTI ID:917611

Porch, W; Balsley, B; Cole, H; Jensen, M; Lesht, B; Lijegren, J; Richardson, S; Revercomb, H; LANL,; PNL,

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 radiosonde 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: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)
• Sponsoring Organization: ER
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 917611
• Report Number(s): ANL/ER/CP-95966
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: ENGLISH

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY
BOUNDARY LAYERS
CALIBRATION
DEW POINT
MEASURING METHODS
OKLAHOMA
WATER VAPOR