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The Howard University Beltsville Research CampusThe Howard University Beltsville Research Campus Highlights from the Recent Wind Lidar and Water Vapor Highlights from the Recent Wind Lidar and Water Vapor

ExperimentsExperiments : February - March 2009February - March 2009

B. Demoz, D. Venable, T. Bacha: Howard University

B. Gentry: NASA/GSFC

H. Chen, K. Vermeesch: SSAI, MD

G. Koch, U. Singh: NASA/LaRC

M. Boquet, L. Sauvage LEOSPHERE, France

Acknowledgment: Dr. E. Joseph at Howard UniversityDrs. D. Whiteman, T. McGee at NASA/GSFC

Funding: NASA/ROSES’07 (Dr. Ramesh Kakar)

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OutlineOutline• HU-Beltsville Research Campus (HUBRC):

– Broad goals – Location and Instrumentation

• Recent Experiments:– FYI: Water Vapor and Temperature (WAVES/N-WAVES) – Howard University Wind Lidar Experiment

• Goals

• Highlights of comparisons

• Historical Wind Data at IAD

• Summary: Things yet to be done

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Broad Goals of Beltsville Field Broad Goals of Beltsville Field SiteSite

• Enhance capacityEnhance capacity of HU to conduct research of HU to conduct research

• Facility for Facility for hands-on student traininghands-on student training

• Contribute to national and international climate and Contribute to national and international climate and environmental monitoring activitiesenvironmental monitoring activities

–PBL (observation, parameterization, forecast)

–Climate observations and satellite validation (GRUAN, AIRS/TES, NDACC)

–Pollution studies (MDE)

–Lidar (Wind, Aerosol, Water Vapor/Raman)

–Radiosonde sensor evaluation (NWS)

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Majo

r Poll

ution

Tra

nspo

rt co

rrido

r

DullesAirportSterling(NWS)

NationalAirport

BWIAirport

HUB

GSFC

UMBC

Wallops

P

SU

UMD

U

VA

MDE

• Semi-urban site (not “pristine”)• Major Pollution corridor• Integrate Science and Education• Extensive instrumentation• Great place for collaboration • Diverse weather conditions

Location

NOAA

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Latitude: +39º 03’ 15.117’’Longitude: -76º 52’ 39.448’’Elevation: 53.2 mArea = 110 acres

Rad. (~BSRN)

GPS (X2)CeilometerMWR (2)MWR(39)All Sky

Office/Shops/Labs

C-Band RadarMDE Profiler

Full Air Quality

Lidar Laboratory

HURLALVISATGLOWCeilometer

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Me

t T

ow

er

8-levels T/RHFlux, Net radSoil MoistureChemistry

PDBRSOSCORS

Aerial View: HUBRC

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NDACC-WAVES_2009

* Technology and calibration development for UT/LS water vapor profiling using Raman Lidar

* Starting of climatology of UT/LS water vapor using lidar + sonde at BV for climate change studies

Instruments:

* HURL: Howard Univ. Raman Lidar (q)* ALVICE: GSFC Raman Lidar (Whiteman; q, T)* AT: GSFC Raman Lidar (McGee; q, T)* STROZE-LITE (McGee; Ozone)

Funding: NASA/ROSES07 Atmospheric Composition (K. Jucks)

N-WAVES Experimenthttp://tropometrics.com

0 20 40 600

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Wind speed (m/s)A

ltit

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Wind direction (deg)

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itu

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NASA

GSFC

GLOW

915MHz Profiler

Howard University Wind Lidar ExperimentHoward University Wind Lidar Experiment

LEOSPHERE WLS70

ACARS

GOALS

• Lidar wind in various aerosol loading (pollution, cirrus, etc)

• Develop seasonal data archive for lidar wind

• Demonstrate the VALIDAR - GLOW wind concept

• Compare lidar wind to other sensors (Profiler, sonde, AMDAR, etc).

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NASA

GSFC

GLOWGoddardLidar Observatory Winds

LaRCVALidationLIDAR

915MHz Radar Profiler

Howard University Wind Lidar ExperimentHoward University Wind Lidar Experiment

LEOSPHERE WLS70

ACARS

Wind Experiment Period N-WAVES Experiment Period

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Commercial aircraft observations - winds and temperature - water vapor, turbulence (recently)

Positive impact of AMDAR on weather forecast.• 3-hr wind forecast error reduced by 40% (overall improvement of 11%) • 12-hr wind forecasts of winds improved by 5%

http://www.wmo.int/amdar/Publications/Final%20Production%20AMDAR%20Flyer.pdf

915MHz Radar ProfilerSubstantial Variability between AMDAR, Sonde and Profiler in Speed in Direction below 6km.

ACARS_Profiler_sondeAircraft Meteorological DAta Relay (AMDAR)

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• These seem to be “atmospheric” variations.

ACARS-GLOW: Example

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LEOSPHERE WLS70LEOSPHERE WLS70www.leosphere.comwww.leosphere.com

LEOSPHERE WLS70

Output:

• Laser power: 20 microjoules •Vr, CNR (line of sight, ~1Hz)• U, V, W, Vh, Direction (~1Hz)• Vhm, Dirm, Um, Vm, Wm, every 10 min

Horizontal Wind speed

Wind direction

Vertical Wind speed

UTC +1

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VALIDAR-WLS70

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= sonde altitude at time of lidar measurement. Assumes rise rate of 5 m/s.

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Wind direction (deg)

Alti

tude

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GLOW file:speddir1_30_3x1_250m_mcs0902241854.asc Sonde file:GSFC_RS92SGP_20090225_0059UT.dat

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Wind speed (m/s)

Alti

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Sonde

GLOW

Sonde

01:32 UT

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Wind direction (deg)

Alti

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GLOW file:speddir1_30_3x1_250m_mcs0902241854.asc Sonde file:GSFC_RS92SGP_20090225_0059UT.dat

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Wind speed (m/s)

Alti

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GLOW

Sonde

GLOW

Sonde

01:32 UT

GLOW-Sonde

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GLOW-VALIDARExample: 24 Feb. 2009

• Good correlation in the overlap region• Good correlation with Sonde

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Historical Wind Data AnalysisSingle station (IAD) – Balloon

Summary Jet altitude varies by ~ 2.5km

~ 250 m res (10%)

~ 25m/s variation in 1-yr2.5 m/s res (10%), monthly average.

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Summary/Conclusion – To do list

• Completed of 1st GLOW/VALIDAR Experiment

– Continue GLOW/VALIDAR/other analysis

– Start lidar wind versus optical depth work

– Plan for a 2nd GLOW/VALIDAR deployment ($$?)

• PBL: WRF/Lidar/Profiler/Sonde work in progress

– Complete LEOSPHERE WLS70 performance study

– Check Sonde-to-sonde wind variability

– Lidar winds during Cold fronts/LL-Jets

• Collaborate with Regional OSSE work (Z. Pu et al.)

• Lidar humidity/temperature/wind offers a 1st look at

UTLS structure

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END

THANK YOU

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• ACARS (Aircraft Communications, Addressing, and Reporting System) is the name of a data link service provided by Aeronautical Radio, Inc. that sends data between aircraft and ground stations

• MDCRS (Meteorological Data, Collection and Reporting System) is the weather portion of the ACARS data stream provided by seven major U.S. air carriers

• TAMDAR (Tropospheric Airborne Meteorological DAta Reporting) data are provided by a private company, AirDat, who uses regional air carriers

• Aircraft Meteorological DAta Relay (AMDAR) is the preferred term by the WMO and NWS.