A diagram of the proposed radar and lidar configuration of CAPRIS. The instrumentation suite will provide an unprecedented combination of coincident observations of precipitation, winds, cloud microphysics, water vapor, ozone and aerosol at a wide range of temporal and spatial scales.
Priority 2: Developing New Instrumentation
CAPRIS
Background
Interdisciplinary research is required to advance the understanding of areas such as the complete water cycle, cloud microphysics and radiative properties, and how weather systems transport water vapor, aerosols, and chemical species. Simultaneous aircraft measurements of remotely sensed kinematics and the concentration of precipitation, water vapor, ozone, aerosol, and other chemical species are critical. At present, these measurements can only be achieved by combining observations from multiple aircraft, assuming simultaneity and collocation. Most important, these limited observing capabilities are not easily accessible to the NSF user community.
Progress
NCAR has spearheaded a collaborative effort to propose and develop a Community Airborne Remote-sensing Interdisciplinary Suite (CAPRIS) to provide an unprecedented coincident observations of precipitation, winds, cloud microphysics, water vapor, ozone, and aerosols at a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. The proposed CAPRIS on the NSF/NCAR C-130 includes, on a single platform:
- a fuselage conformal, dual-polarization, dual-Doppler precipitation radar;
- a pod-based dual-wavelength, dual-polarization, Doppler cloud radar;
- a water vapor DIAL/aerosol lidar;
- a UV ozone DIAL; and
- a UV molecular Doppler lidar.
Plans
The last four instruments will be designed to fit on NSF/NCAR GV (HIAPER). The proposed lidars will fill major remote sensing instrumentation gaps on the GV for water vapor, ozone, clear air winds, and aerosol. CAPRIS components will also have the option of serving as ground-based facilities, to maximize their utility and flexibility. In conjunction with a wealth of in situ sensors on the NSF/NCAR C-130 and GV, CAPRIS serves the broader scientific communities of climate, atmospheric chemistry, physical meteorology, mesoscale meteorology, and large-scale dynamics.
In FY 2007 NCAR will continue to solicit input from the community and to define specifications and capabilities. A prospectus will go to NSF for review in February 2007. The community envisions that CAPRIS will infuse the latest technology into the NSF Lower Atmosphere Observing Facility sensing system and will serve the interdisciplinary scientific objectives of the Division of Atmospheric Sciences user community for the next twenty years.
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