MRI: Development of a Multi-function Airborne Raman Lidar for Atmospheric Process Studies

该奖项是为了开发多功能机载拉曼激光雷达（MARL）。 该项目将把成熟的地面拉曼激光雷达技术扩展到机载天气研究应用。 主要的智力挑战是设计系统，以便在技术上具有挑战性的机载环境中提供高质量的测量，这将需要降低系统功率，尺寸和重量，并增加对振动的耐受性。 最先进的机械/光学设计和分析，以前已经测试了NSF赞助的怀俄明州国王航空大学（UWKA）和美国宇航局赞助的机载系统，将用于集成激光，光电和其他传感器，以产生一个可靠的机载系统。 一个重要的设计特点是计划在大范围的太阳大气条件下进行双波长水汽拉曼测量的能力。 当在UWKA或NSF/NCAR C-130研究飞机平台上运行时，MARL将提供温度、水汽混合比、气溶胶和/或云消光系数和去极化比以及具有高水平和垂直分辨率的云水含量剖面的同时测量。 MARL将填补之前NSF赞助的低层大气观测设施（LAOF）研讨会所确定的几个仪器空白，并将改变我们以100米至1公里的水平分辨率观测大气的能力。 知识上的价值还在于计划部署这一仪器所作出的科学贡献，包括更好地了解云与其环境之间的小规模相互作用、海气和陆气相互作用、多云条件下或非均匀表面上的边界层结构和过程、中尺度大气环境和动态（特别是与对流开始有关的）以及近地面边界层中气溶胶和/或污染物的输送和扩散。 几个实地项目计划使用MARL来解决重要的大气过程，所有这些项目的目标都是提高我们改善天气、气候和空气质量预报的能力。一旦MARL完成并成功演示，它将在UWKA和NSF/NCAR C-130上提供给外部用户。MARL与其他LAOF仪器的协同作用将使NSF支持的研究人员能够解决受当前观测能力限制的科学问题，从而为大气科学的新发现提供许多机会。有重要的社会更广泛的影响，从科学的测量可能与MARL。通过MARL对水汽和温度的精细尺度测量，将大大提高我们对控制中尺度动力学过程以及相关云和降水发展的理解，从而更好地预测高影响天气事件。其他过程研究将改进云和ABL参数化，以更好地预测气候和空气质量。此外，研究生和本科教育和培训的特殊机会将从这个项目中产生。虽然一个研究生是专门包括在内，所有的研究生在研究小组将在一定程度上参与仪器的开发和测试。激光雷达系统将被纳入怀俄明州大学提供的大气仪器课程，为学生提供使用最先进的大气遥感能力的实践经验。向更广泛的大气科学界提供仪器将大大增加使用这一设备的学生的人数和多样性。

This award is for development of a Multi-function Airborne Raman Lidar (MARL). The project will extend mature ground-based Raman lidar technology to airborne weather research applications. The major intellectual challenge is to design the system so as to provide high quality measurements in the technically challenging airborne environment, which will require reducing system power, size and weight and increasing tolerance to vibration. The state-of-the-art mechanical/optical design and analysis, which has previously been tested for both NSF-sponsored Univ. of Wyoming King Air (UWKA) and NASA-sponsored airborne systems, will be used to integrate laser, electro-optical, and other sensors to produce a reliable airborne system. One important design feature is planned capability for dual-wavelength water vapor Raman measurements over a large range of solar atmospheric conditions. MARL will provide simultaneous measurements of temperature, water vapor mixing ratio, aerosol and/or cloud extinction coefficient and depolarization ratio, and cloud water content profiles with high horizontal and vertical resolutions when operated aboard either the UWKA or NSF/NCAR C-130 research aircraft platforms. MARL will fill several instrumentation gaps identified by previous NSF-sponsored Lower Atmospheric Observing Facilities (LAOF) workshops and will transform our capability to observe the atmosphere at horizontal resolutions ranging from ~100m to ~1 km. The intellectual merit also rests in scientific contributions from planned deployments of this instrument, including improved understanding of small-scale interactions between clouds and their environments, air-sea and land-atmosphere interactions, boundary layer structure and processes under cloudy conditions or over heterogeneous surfaces, mesoscale atmospheric environments and dynamics (especially those related to convective initiation), and both transport and dispersion of aerosols and/or pollutants in the near-surface boundary layer. Several field projects are planned to use MARL to address important atmospheric processes, all with the goal to improve our ability to improve weather, climate and air quality forecasts.There are broader impacts from enhancing community measurement infrastructure. Once MARL has been completed and successfully demonstrated, it will be available to external users on the UWKA and NSF/NCAR C-130. The synergy of MARL with other LAOF instruments will allow NSF-supported researchers to address science questions that are limited by current observational capabilities, thereby opening numerous opportunities for new discoveries in atmospheric science. There are important societal broader impacts from the scientific measurements possible with MARL. Fine scale measurements of water vapor and temperature by MARL will significantly advance our understanding of processes controlling mesoscale dynamics and associated cloud and precipitation development toward better prediction of high impact weather events. Other process studies will improve cloud and ABL parameterizations for better climate and air quality prediction. Furthermore, exceptional opportunities for graduate and undergraduate education and training will arise from this project. While one graduate student is included specifically, all graduate students in the research group will participate to some extent in instrument development and testing. The lidar system will be incorporated into the Atmospheric Instrumentation course offered at the University of Wyoming to provide students with hands-on experience using state-of-the-art atmospheric remote sensing capabilities. The availability of the instrumentation to the wider atmospheric science community will greatly increase the number and diversity of students utilizing this equipment.