University of Kentucky measurements of wind, temperature, pressure and humidity in support of LAPSE-RATE using multisite fixed-wing and rotorcraft unmanned aerial systems

Sean C.C. Bailey, Michael P. Sama, Caleb A. Canter, L. Felipe Pampolini, Zachary S. Lippay, Travis J. Schuyler, Jonathan D. Hamilton, Sean B. Macphee, Isaac S. Rowe, Christopher D. Sanders, Virginia G. Smith, Christina N. Vezzi, Harrison M. Wight, Jesse B. Hoagg, Marcelo I. Guzman, Suzanne Weaver Smith

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

In July 2018, unmanned aerial systems (UASs) were deployed to measure the properties of the lower atmosphere within the San Luis Valley, an elevated valley in Colorado, USA, as part of the Lower Atmospheric Profiling Studies at Elevation a Remotely-piloted Aircraft Team Experiment (LAPSE-RATE). Measurement objectives included detailing boundary layer transition, canyon cold-air drainage and convection initiation within the valley. Details of the contribution to LAPSE-RATE made by the University of Kentucky are provided here, which include measurements by seven different fixed-wing and rotorcraft UASs totaling over 178 flights with validated data. The data from these coordinated UAS flights consist of thermodynamic and kinematic variables (air temperature, humidity, pressure, wind speed and direction) and include vertical profiles up to 900m above the ground level and horizontal transects up to 1500m in length. These measurements have been quality controlled and are openly available in the Zenodo LAPSE-RATE community data repository (https://zenodo.org/communities/lapse-rate/, last access: 23 July 2020), with the University of Kentucky data available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3701845 (Bailey et al., 2020).

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1759-1773
Number of pages15
JournalEarth System Science Data
Volume12
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 6 2020

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 American Institute of Physics Inc.. All rights reserved.

Funding

Financial support. This research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems (grant no. CBET-1351411), and the National Science Foundation, Office of Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (grant no. 1539070). Additional student financial travel support was provided through the National Science Foundation (grant no. AGS-1807199) and Department of Energy (grant no. DE-SC0018985).

FundersFunder number
National Science Foundation Arctic Social Science Program1351411, 1807199
U.S. Department of Energy EPSCoRDE-SC0018985
Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport SystemsCBET-1351411
Office of Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive ResearchAGS-1807199, 1539070

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • General Earth and Planetary Sciences

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