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.

该奖项旨在表彰多功能机载拉曼激光雷达（MARL）的开发。 该项目将把成熟的地面拉曼激光雷达技术扩展到机载气象研究应用。 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，并提高对振动的耐受性。 最先进的机械/光学设计和分析，此前已在 NSF 赞助的大学进行了测试。怀俄明国王航空 (UWKA) 和 NASA 赞助的机载系统将用于集成激光、光电和其他传感器，以产生可靠的机载系统。 一项重要的设计特点是计划能够在大范围的太阳大气条件下进行双波长水蒸气拉曼测量。 当在 UWKA 或 NSF/NCAR C-130 研究飞机上运行时，MARL 将提供温度、水蒸气混合比、气溶胶和/或云消光系数和去极化比以及云含水量剖面的同步测量，具有高水平和垂直分辨率平台。 MARL 将填补之前 NSF 资助的低层大气观测设施 (LAOF) 研讨会确定的几个仪器空白，并将改变我们以约 100m 至约 1 km 的水平分辨率观测大气的能力。 智力价值还在于该仪器的计划部署所做出的科学贡献，包括更好地了解云与其环境之间的小规模相互作用、海空和陆地-大气相互作用、多云条件下或异质表面上的边界层结构和过程、中尺度大气环境和动力学（特别是与对流引发有关的环境和动力学），以及近地表边界层中气溶胶和/或污染物的传输和扩散。 计划使用 MARL 来解决重要的大气过程的几个实地项目，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。加强社区测量基础设施会产生更广泛的影响。一旦 MARL 完成并成功演示，它将可供 UWKA 和 NSF/NCAR C-130 上的外部用户使用。 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大量机会。 MARL 的科学测量可能产生重要的更广泛的社会影响。 MARL 对水蒸气和温度的精细测量将极大地增进我们对控制中尺度动力学以及相关云和降水发展过程的理解，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，以实现更好的气候和空气质量预测。此外，该项目还将带来研究生和本科生教育和培训的绝佳机会。虽然专门包括一名研究生，但研究组的所有研究生都将在一定程度上参与仪器开发和测试。该激光雷达系统将纳入怀俄明大学提供的大气仪器课程中，为学生提供使用最先进的大气遥感功能的实践经验。该仪器向更广泛的大气科学界提供将大大增加使用该设备的学生的数量和多样性。