skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: A Bird’s-Eye View: Development of an Operational ARM Unmanned Aerial Capability for Atmospheric Research in Arctic Alaska

Journal Article · · Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [2];  [2];  [1];  [5];  [1];  [6];  [1];  [7];  [1];  [1];  [5];  [1];  [1] more »;  [4];  [4];  [1];  [5];  [3] « less
  1. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States); National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Boulder, CO (United States). Earth System Research Lab.
  2. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
  3. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  4. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
  5. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Boulder, CO (United States). Earth System Research Lab.
  6. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)
  7. University of Leeds (United Kingdom)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Thorough understanding of aerosols, clouds, boundary layer structure, and radiation is required to improve the representation of the Arctic atmosphere in weather forecasting and climate models. To develop such understanding, new perspectives are needed to provide details on the vertical structure and spatial variability of key atmospheric properties, along with information over difficult-to-reach surfaces such as newly forming sea ice. Over the last three years, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has supported various flight campaigns using unmanned aircraft systems [UASs, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and drones] and tethered balloon systems (TBSs) at Oliktok Point, Alaska. These activities have featured in situ measurements of the thermodynamic state, turbulence, radiation, aerosol properties, cloud microphysics, and turbulent fluxes to provide a detailed characterization of the lower atmosphere. Alongside a suite of active and passive ground-based sensors and radiosondes deployed by the DOE Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program through the third ARM Mobile Facility (AMF-3), these flight activities demonstrate the ability of such platforms to provide critically needed information. In addition to providing new and unique datasets, lessons learned during initial campaigns have assisted in the development of an exciting new community resource.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER). Earth and Environmental Systems Science Division
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830; AC04-94AL85000; SC0011459; SC0013306; SC0014568
OSTI ID:
1489789
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1426815; OSTI ID: 1673382
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-131162; SAND-2018-2488J
Journal Information:
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 99, Issue 6; ISSN 0003-0007
Publisher:
American Meteorological SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 33 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (70)

Effects of Climate Change on Arctic Marine Mammal Health journal March 2008
Observations of Antarctic Polynya With Unmanned Aircraft Systems journal January 2010
Indirect Aerosol Effect Increases CMIP5 Models’ Projected Arctic Warming journal February 2016
The Role of Springtime Arctic Clouds in Determining Autumn Sea Ice Extent journal September 2016
The influence of local oil exploration and regional wildfires on summer 2015 aerosol over the North Slope of Alaska journal January 2018
Applications of Aerosondes in the Arctic journal December 2004
Evidence of liquid dependent ice nucleation in high-latitude stratiform clouds from surface remote sensors: LIQUID INDUCED ICE NUCLEATION journal January 2011
A Characterization of the Present-Day Arctic Atmosphere in CCSM4 journal April 2012
Unmanned Platforms Monitor the Arctic Atmosphere journal February 2016
The Pilatus unmanned aircraft system for lower atmospheric research journal January 2016
A 10 year climatology of Arctic cloud fraction and radiative forcing at Barrow, Alaska journal January 2010
Microphysical and Radiative Properties of Marine Stratocumulus from Tethered Balloon Measurements journal February 1991
A light-weight, high-sensitivity particle spectrometer for PM2.5 aerosol measurements journal December 2015
Increased Arctic cloud longwave emissivity associated with pollution from mid-latitudes journal April 2006
Tethered balloon measurements of biogenic VOCs in the atmospheric boundary layer journal March 1999
Soot climate forcing via snow and ice albedos journal December 2003
A Balloonborne Instrument for the Measurement of Vertical Profiles of Supercooled Liquid Water Concentration journal November 1980
Autonomous Aerosondes for Economical Atmospheric Soundings Anywhere on the Globe journal December 1992
The Aerosonde Robotic Aircraft: A New Paradigm for Environmental Observations journal May 2001
The Collaborative Colorado–Nebraska Unmanned Aircraft System Experiment journal January 2012
The contribution of cloud and radiation anomalies to the 2007 Arctic sea ice extent minimum journal January 2008
Tethered-balloon observations of the structure of small cumulus clouds: BALLOON OBSERVATIONS of CUMULUS STRUCTURE journal October 1981
Estimating Sensible and Latent Heat Fluxes Using the Integral Method from in situ Aircraft Measurements journal September 2014
Development and Applications of ARM Millimeter-Wavelength Cloud Radars journal April 2016
The thinning of Arctic sea ice journal April 2011
An Unmanned Aircraft for Dropwindsonde Deployment and Hurricane Reconnaissance journal March 1993
High-Resolution Atmospheric Sensing of Multiple Atmospheric Variables Using the DataHawk Small Airborne Measurement System journal October 2013
Arctic sea ice thickness loss determined using subsurface, aircraft, and satellite observations journal January 2015
A Method of Correcting for Tilt from Horizontal in Downwelling Shortwave Irradiance Measurements on Moving Platforms journal April 2010
A climatologically significant aerosol longwave indirect effect in the Arctic journal January 2006
The observed influence of local anthropogenic pollution on northern Alaskan cloud properties journal January 2017
Distribution and trends in Arctic sea ice age through spring 2011: TRENDS IN ARCTIC SEA ICE AGE journal July 2011
Atmospheric Ice Particle Shape Estimates from Polarimetric Radar Measurements and In Situ Observations journal December 2017
Aerosol Physical and Optical Properties and Processes in the ARM Program journal April 2016
The ARM Data System and Archive journal April 2016
Intercomparison of model simulations of mixed-phase clouds observed during the ARM Mixed-Phase Arctic Cloud Experiment. II: Multilayer cloud
  • Morrison, Hugh; McCoy, Renata B.; Klein, Stephen A.
  • Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 135, Issue 641 https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.415
journal April 2009
A study of boundary layer behavior associated with high NO concentrations at the South Pole using a minisodar, tethered balloon, and sonic anemometer journal April 2008
A Method for Estimating the Turbulent Kinetic Energy Dissipation Rate from a Vertically Pointing Doppler Lidar, and Independent Evaluation from Balloon-Borne In Situ Measurements journal October 2010
Observational evidence of a change in radiative forcing due to the indirect aerosol effect journal January 2004
The ARM Data Quality Program journal April 2016
Vertical nitrogen dioxide and ozone concentrations measured from a tethered balloon in the Lower Fraser Valley journal July 1997
Arctic amplification dominated by temperature feedbacks in contemporary climate models journal February 2014
Ecological Consequences of Sea-Ice Decline journal August 2013
A 3-year record of simultaneously measured aerosol chemical and optical properties at Barrow, Alaska: CHEMICAL AND OPTICAL PROPERTIES AT BARROW, ALASKA journal June 2002
Decadal trends in aerosol chemical composition at Barrow, Alaska: 1976–2008 journal January 2009
Warming trends in Asia amplified by brown cloud solar absorption journal August 2007
Variations in Surface Air Temperature Observations in the Arctic, 1979–97 journal March 2000
Permafrost temperature records: Indicators of climate change journal January 2002
ARM Aircraft Measurements journal April 2016
The microphysical properties of ice fog measured in urban environments of Interior Alaska: ICE FOG MICROPHYSICS journal October 2013
The central role of diminishing sea ice in recent Arctic temperature amplification journal April 2010
The Arctic Amplification Debate journal March 2006
Processes and impacts of Arctic amplification: A research synthesis journal May 2011
Clouds at Arctic Atmospheric Observatories. Part II: Thermodynamic Phase Characteristics journal March 2011
Clouds at Arctic Atmospheric Observatories. Part I: Occurrence and Macrophysical Properties journal March 2011
Evaluation of turbulent dissipation rate retrievals from Doppler Cloud Radar journal January 2012
Cloud and boundary layer interactions over the Arctic sea ice in late summer journal January 2013
The Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Unmanned Aerospace Vehicle (UAV) Program journal December 2000
Arctic sea ice decline: Faster than forecast: ARCTIC ICE LOSS-FASTER THAN FORECAST journal May 2007
Trends in Arctic sea ice extent from CMIP5, CMIP3 and observations: ARCTIC SEA ICE EXTENT FROM CMIP5 journal August 2012
Turbulent Winds and Temperature Fronts in Large-Eddy Simulations of the Stable Atmospheric Boundary Layer journal April 2016
A practical set of miniaturized instruments for vertical profiling of aerosol physical properties journal March 2017
Information Content and Uncertainties in Thermodynamic Profiles and Liquid Cloud Properties Retrieved from the Ground-Based Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (AERI) journal March 2014
Environmental temperature sensing using Raman spectra DTS fiber-optic methods: DTS FIBER-OPTIC SENSING journal January 2009
International Arctic Systems for Observing the Atmosphere: An International Polar Year Legacy Consortium journal June 2016
Measuring the Wind Vector Using the Autonomous Mini Aerial Vehicle M 2 AV journal November 2008
The Mixed-Phase Arctic Cloud Experiment journal February 2007
The ARM North Slope of Alaska (NSA) Sites journal April 2016
An assessment of ECMWF analyses and model forecasts over the North Slope of Alaska using observations from the ARM Mixed-Phase Arctic Cloud Experiment journal January 2006
Impact of the atmosphere on surface radiative fluxes and snowmelt in the Arctic and Subarctic journal February 1997

Cited By (7)

Intercomparison of Small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS) Measurements for Atmospheric Science during the LAPSE-RATE Campaign journal May 2019
The relative impact of cloud condensation nuclei and ice nucleating particle concentrations on phase partitioning in Arctic mixed-phase stratocumulus clouds journal January 2018
Internet of Things for Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change book December 2019
HOVERCAT: a novel aerial system for evaluation of aerosol–cloud interactions journal January 2018
Unmanned aerial vehicles reveal the impact of a total solar eclipse on the atmospheric surface layer
  • Bailey, Sean C. C.; Canter, Caleb A.; Sama, Michael P.
  • Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Vol. 475, Issue 2229 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.2019.0212
journal September 2019
Atmospheric observations made at Oliktok Point, Alaska, as part of the Profiling at Oliktok Point to Enhance YOPP Experiments (POPEYE) campaign journal January 2019
The new BELUGA setup for collocated turbulence and radiation measurements using a tethered balloon: first applications in the cloudy Arctic boundary layer journal January 2019

Similar Records

Atmospheric observations made at Oliktok Point, Alaska, as part of the Profiling at Oliktok Point to Enhance YOPP Experiments (POPEYE) campaign
Journal Article · Fri Aug 30 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Earth System Science Data (Online) · OSTI ID:1489789
+18 more
A Study of Intermittent Turbulence in Stable Arctic Boundary Layers
Journal Article · Fri Jan 12 00:00:00 EST 2024 · Boundary-Layer Meteorology · OSTI ID:1489789
The Pilatus unmanned aircraft system for lower atmospheric research
Journal Article · Thu Apr 28 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (Online) · OSTI ID:1489789
+11 more

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES