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

MRI：开发用于大气过程研究的多功能机载拉曼激光雷达

• 批准号: 1337599
• 负责人: Zhien Wang
• 金额: $ 120.4万
• 依托单位: University of Wyoming
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-09-01 至 2017-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1337599&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; Development; Multi; function; Airborne

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.

该奖项是为了开发多功能机载拉曼激光雷达（MARL）。 该项目将将成熟的地面拉曼激光雷达技术扩展到机载天气研究应用程序。 主要的智力挑战是设计系统，以便在技术挑战性的空降环境中提供高质量的测量，这将需要降低系统功率，大小和重量，并增加对振动的容忍度。 先前已经对两个NSF赞助的大学进行了测试的最先进的机械/光学设计和分析。 Wyoming King Air（UWKA）和NASA赞助的机载系统将用于整合激光，电光和其他传感器，以生成可靠的机载系统。 一个重要的设计功能是在各种太阳大气条件下进行双波长水蒸气拉曼测量的计划功能。 MARL将同时测量温度，水蒸气混合比，气溶胶和/或云消光系数和去极化比，以及在UWKA或NSF/NCAR/NCAR C-130研究飞机平台上运行时，具有高水平和垂直分辨率的云水含量分布。 MARL将填补以前的NSF赞助的低大气观测设施（LAOF）研讨会所确定的几个仪器间隔，并将改变我们观察到范围约100m至〜1 km的水平分辨率下的大气的能力。 智力优点还取决于该乐器计划部署的科学贡献，包括对云及其环境之间的小规模相互作用的了解，空气和土地大气相互作用，云状条件下的边界层结构和过程，或超过异质表面的边界层结构和过程，以及与中等范围的环境和动态（均与启动的启动和动态），以及启动或动态的启动和动态），以及启动的启动和动态）近表面边界层。 计划使用MARL来解决重要的大气过程，所有目标都以提高我们改善天气，气候和空气质量预测的能力。增强社区测量基础设施的影响更大。 MAL完成并成功地证明MAL后，它将向UWKA和NSF/NCAR C-130上的外部用户使用。 MARL与其他LAOF工具的协同作用将使由NSF支持的研究人员解决受当前观察能力限制的科学问题，从而为大气科学的新发现打开了许多机会。 MAR的科学测量可能会产生重要的社会广泛影响。通过MAL对水蒸气和温度进行的精细规模测量将大大提高我们对控制中尺度动力学以及相关云的过程的理解，以及降水的发展，以更好地预测高影响力天气事件。其他过程研究将改善云和ABL参数化，以更好地气候和空气质量预测。此外，研究生和本科教育和培训的特殊机会将来自该项目。特别是一名研究生，但研究小组的所有研究生将在某种程度上参与仪器开发和测试。 LIDAR系统将被合并到怀俄明大学提供的大气仪器课程中，以使用最先进的大气遥感能力为学生提供动手体验。仪器对更广泛的大气科学界的可用性将大大增加利用该设备的学生的数量和多样性。