Mid-scale RI-1 (M1:IP): The Next Generation Wyoming King Air Atmospheric Research Aircraft

怀俄明大学国王航空（UWKA）研究飞机是由美国国家科学基金会支持的大气科学研究和教育界的三个机载设施之一。由于其灵活的机动性和相对低廉的运行成本，UWKA是云、降水、大气化学、野火和边界层气象研究和教育中最常被要求的机载设施。这个中等规模的研究基础设施-1实施项目旨在通过在新的空中国王飞机上建立一个最先进的机载大气研究和教育实验室（UWKA-2），使老化的UWKA现代化，该实验室具有相同的灵活性和成本效益。这些技术将成为美国国家科学基金低层大气观测设施的组成部分。先进的机载现场和遥感测量功能进行验证和改进至关重要的算法用于太空测量和提供观测约束对天气的数值模型、气候、空气质量、和野火的预测,支持许多联邦机构的任务,比如那些国家航空和宇宙航行局(NASA),美国国家海洋和大气管理局(NOAA),美国能源部(DOE),环境保护署（EPA）、内政部（DOI）和国防部（DOD）。现代化的仪器套件、额外的有效载荷能力、更长的飞行范围和先进的通信将使北极科学的创新观测和教育成为可能，解决了NSF的“导航新北极大构想”。在现场实验期间实时访问平台和仪器的新功能将允许特殊教育部署，并使来自许多大学的学生、早期职业科学家和K-12学生/教师能够远程参与现场活动。在这个NSF中型研究基础设施植入项目中有五个组成部分：(i)将基线飞机转换为机载研究平台，涉及特定任务和特定研究的飞机改装和联邦航空管理局（FAA）认证；升级机载毫米波雷达，使其具备飞行高度以下和飞行高度以上的垂直平面双多普勒能力，以及测量雨滴和云滴的双频剖面能力；建立基于拉曼和多普勒激光雷达技术的机载激光雷达能力，用于遥感温度、湿度、气溶胶和三维风廓线；装配一套最新的测量微量气体和气溶胶的仪器，以支持大气化学研究；发展具有实时分析/显示能力的新型地面飞机通信系统，用于教育、训练和飞行管理。该项目由基金会范围内的中等规模研究基础设施项目提供支持，并由促进竞争研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）和大气与地球空间科学部/地球科学理事会共同资助。该项目将由地球科学局大气和地球空间科学司管理。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The University of Wyoming King Air (UWKA) research aircraft is one of three airborne facilities for the research and education community of atmospheric sciences supported by the National Science Foundation. Because of its agile maneuverability and relatively inexpensive operational cost, UWKA is the most frequently requested airborne facility for cloud, precipitation, atmospheric chemistry, wildfires, and boundary layer meteorology research and education. This Mid-scale Research Infrastructure-1 Implementation project aims to modernize the aging UWKA by building a state-of-art airborne atmospheric research and education laboratory (UWKA-2) on a new King Air aircraft that has the same agility and cost-effectiveness. These technologies will become an integral part of the NSFs Lower Atmospheric Observing Facility. The advanced airborne in-situ and remote sensing measurement capabilities are critical for validation and refinement of algorithms used in space-borne measurements and providing observational constraints on numerical models for weather, climate, air quality, and wildfire predictions, and supporting many federal agencies' missions, such as those of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Department of Energy (DOE), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Interior (DOI), and the Department of Defense (DOD). The modernized instrument suite, extra payload capability, a longer flight range, and advanced communications will enable innovative observations and education in Arctic science that addresses the NSF's Navigating the New Arctic Big Idea. The new capabilities of real time access to the platform and instruments during field experiments will allow special educational deployments and enable students, early career scientists from many universities, and K-12 students/teachers to remotely participate in field campaigns.There are five components in this NSF Mid-scale Research Infrastructure Implantation project: (i) Convert the baseline aircraft to airborne research platform that involves mission-specific and research-specific aircraft modifications and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification; (ii) Upgrade airborne millimeter-wave radars to allow vertical-plane dual-doppler capability both below and above flight level, and dual frequency profiling capability for measurements of both rain and cloud droplets; (iii) Build airborne lidar capabilities based on Raman and Doppler lidar technologies for remote sensing of temperature, humidity, aerosols, and 3-dimensional wind profiles; (iv) Assemble an updated instrument package for measurements of trace gases and aerosols to support atmospheric chemistry research; and (v) Develop a novel ground-aircraft communication system with real-time analysis/display capabilities for education, training, and flight management. This project is supported by the Foundation-wide Mid-scale Research Infrastructure program with co-funding from the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) and the Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences/Directorate for Geosciences. The project will be managed by the Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences within the Directorate for Geosciences.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.