MRI: Development of Enhanced T-Probe for Aircraft Measurement of Mixed Phase Ice-Water Cloud

这一重大研究仪器开发项目将极大地扩展最近开发的仪器T-Probe的操作特性。这是一种测量云中液态水和冰含量的仪器。在目前的配置中，三个配置但独立的传感器测量液态水、冰和液态水的总和(差值得出冰的含量)，以及参考空气速度和密度。该仪器将通过增加电力供应来改进，从而使目前的冰/水含量测量极限增加一倍以上，达到每立方米2克以上。最重要的是，这一改进还将包括当探测器被高浓度的液体和/或冰粒淹没时，多余的水或冰的脱落指示。当收集到的颗粒物撞击探测器时，将使用视频显微镜来直观地确认它们的命运。在完成开发和初步测试后，改装的T-探测器将在单独的资金下进行现场测试。该项目将由学科科学家、工程师和私营部门合作。智力优势：混合相微物理过程导致冰相沉淀、电荷分离、增强的化学反应能力，以及有利于改善飞机结构和发动机结冰的环境。云中所有液态水和所有冰之间的界面厚度可能只有几十到几百米。使用T探测器的高分辨率测量对于验证这些过渡区域尺度上的云组成是至关重要的。通过拟议的修改，可以将空间分辨率提高到10米以下。广泛的影响：该仪器的开发和使用非常适合于在高等本科生和研究生级别的乐器班进行研究生培训。该项目的经验将用于内华达大学雷诺分校的一门课程，该课程由PI(自动取款机748)定期向每学期10-15名学生授课。T-Probe的开发将为学生提供机会，通过建造、测试、飞机部署和应用于新的探索，来遵循一个想法。除了课堂和前面提到的大气研究问题之外，更好地描述混合相云条件将导致航空安全的改善。

This Major Research Instrumentation development project will significantly extend the operating characteristics of a recently developed instrument, the T-probe. This is an instrument to measure liquid water and ice content of clouds. In the current configuration, three collocated but separate sensors measure liquid water, and ice and liquid water combined (the difference giving the ice content), together with reference air speed and density. The instrument will be improved by increasing power availability, leading to more than doubling the present measurement limit of ice/water content to beyond two grams per cubic meter. Most important, this improvement also will include indication of shedding of excess water or ice when the probe is overwhelmed by high concentrations of liquid and/or ice particles. A video microscope will be employed to visually confirm the fate of collected particles as they strike the probe. Following completion of development and initial testing, the modified T-probe will be field tested under separate funding. This project will be a collaboration of discipline scientists, engineers, and the private sector.Intellectual merit: Mixed-phase microphysical processes lead to ice-phase precipitation, electric-charge separation, enhanced chemical reactivity, and an environment conducive to enhanced aircraft structure and engine icing. The interface between all liquid water and all ice in clouds may be only a few tens to a few hundreds of meters in thickness. High resolution measurements using the T-probe are critical to verify cloud composition on scales characteristic of these transition regions. Improvement in spatial resolution to less than 10 meters can be achieved by the proposed modifications.Broader impacts: Development and use of this instrument is ideally suited for graduate student training in an instrument class at both advanced undergraduate and graduate levels. Experiences from the project will be employed in a University of Nevada, Reno course regularly taught by the PI (ATMS 748) to 10-15 students per semester. T-probe development will provide opportunities for students to follow an idea through construction, testing, aircraft deployment, and application to new exploration. Beyond the classroom and beyond the atmospheric research issues previously mentioned, better characterization of mixed phase cloud conditions will result in improvements in aviation safety.