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Field Campaigns

June 2023

The Student Airborne Research Program (SARP) is a summer internship initiative designed for undergraduates to gain hands-on experience in airborne research campaigns. In 2023, SLAP participated in the first East coast edition of SARP (SARP-E).  SLAP conducted seven flights over eastern Virginia, the James River, and Chesapeake Bay.

The 2017 Decadal Survey, and subsequent PBL study team and NASA Decadal Survey Incubation (DSI) program prioritize the need for improved PBL observations for Earth Science and societal benefit and recommend a decadal path of ‘PBL incubation’ towards a future spaceborne mission.

On October 10, 2023, SLAP was flown over Great Salt Lake to observe extremely high salinity water. 

 

SLAP H-pol radiometer retrieved brightness temperature

Space Missions

glimr

The Geostationary Littoral Imaging and Monitoring Radiometer (GLIMR) instrument is a hyperspectral ocean color sensor launching after 2026 that targets the Gulf of Mexico and other coastal and ocean waters of North and South America.

noaa

The Visible and Infrared Imager/Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) is a multi-disciplinary instrument that is being flown on the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) series of spacecraft.

Interactions between aerosols, cloud particles, precipitation, and radiation are central to understanding and predicting weather and severe storm development, air quality, and climate change. Key to ACCP science is that virtually every cloud particle, raindrop and snowflake is born from an aerosol particle, which intimately links aerosol and cloud/precipitation processes.

The Atmosphere Observing System (AOS) mission goal is to optimize how we examine links among tiny particles known as "aerosols," clouds, atmospheric convection, and precipitation. AOS will deliver key data for improved forecasts of weather, air quality and climate. How? By providing unmatched insight into the vertical structure of our atmosphere with observations from space, our skies, and on the ground.

Research Areas

Outreach

Instruments

The Snow Water Equivalent Synthetic Aperture Radar and Radiometer (SWESARR) is a new instrument designed to measure the water content in a snowpack. The instrument, developed at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, uses active and passive microwave sensors to map the radio frequency emissions of the snowpack, which can then be turned into a measurement of snow water equivalent.

Organizations:

SLAP’s thermal infra-red (TIR) sensor is used to estimate the physical temperature of each footprint on the ground during a science flight. This information is needed by many algorithms—for example, the L2 passive soil moisture algorithm. SLAP uses the CTF-SF15-C1 made by Micro-Epsilon for this measurement.

Organizations:

The radar in SLAP utilizes simple scatterometer design with single string used as transmitter and simultaneous V and H chains used as receivers.  It provides VV, HH, VH and HV polarization channels. It operated at radio frequency of 1.2625 GHz with flexibility for adjusting to RFI frequencies.  It transmits power of 50 W with duty cycle of 0.2%. Internal hot and ambient loads, external anechoic foam and cold sky were used for calibration purpose.

Organizations:

Models

Welcome to the Mesoscale Dynamics & Modeling Group. Our mission is to conduct research to understand the physics and dynamics of atmospheric processes through the use of computer-based simulations and various observations, including satellite remote sensing, aircraft and surface-based in-situ observations.

The diurnal cycle is a fundamental mode of atmospheric variability and has a major impact on weather and climate prediction. In addition, it provides a robust test of physical processes represented in atmospheric models that are used for studying the water and energy cycles. Most climate models simulate precipitation too early over both land and ocean.

It is known that General Circulation Models (GCMs) have insufficient resolution to accurately simulate hurricane near-eye structure and intensity. Their physics packages (e.g., cumulus parameterizations) are also known limiting factors in simulating hurricanes.