ATD Director's Message
In FY 2000, the Atmospheric Technology Division (ATD) staff once again supported a wide range of university investigators in a variety of field programs, this year primarily in the continental US. The Severe Thunderstorm Electrification and Precipitation Study (STEPS) and the Tropospheric Ozone Production about Spring Equinox (TOPSE) projects were the two largest and used the most resources in this time frame. While STEPS focused on severe weather and lightning in the High Plains of Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska, TOPSE investigated the chemical composition and dynamical evolution of key chemical species during the winter/spring transition in North America. Several smaller projects, such as CASES 99, OASIS 2000, EBEX and SGS, addressed energy transfer and large eddy simulation (LES) parameterization of small-scale turbulence, while PELTI, SIT and the Sea Salinity projects were carried out to test new or improved instrumentation. Neither Idalia, CO in summer or Churchill, Manitoba in winter score too high on the ATD list of exotic places to go to, but then neither does Kettlemann City, CA or Norman, OK. All in all, ATD carried out 14 field projects within a twelve month time period, giving ATD staff little rest between field assignments.In Boulder, ATD staff continued community planning, document preparation and vendor interaction towards the goal of issuing a contract in FY 2001 for HIAPER, NSF's new high-altitude jet. This airplane is an ambitious NCAR/NSF effort to upgrade NSF's current research fleet to include a modified business jet that can reach an altitude of 50,000 feet. The airplane, equipped with a suite of state-of-the-art instrumentation specifically developed for this platform, will allow environmental researchers to address a diverse and new array of science issues. The hard work of the last two years has paid off as NCAR received its first 8.5 Million from NSF in FY 2000. Looking ahead, ATD started developing plans for the retirement of the Electra and for the transfer of ELDORA to a new platform, most likely a P-3.
Despite the busy field project schedule, ATD engineers and technicians performed significant improvements to many of its existing systems. For the first time ever, the S-band Dual Polarization Doppler Radar will operate in an unattended mode during the IMPROVE project in early calendar year 2001. SABL, the scanning aerosol backscatter lidar, now operates in cross-tracked scanning mode from within the C-130 pod. The design of the Bistatic Radar Network was redone to improve data gathering and transmission. The Integrated Sounding System will be available in a mobile version, similar to the mobile GLASS, allowing for set-up and tear-down in record time. The Multiple Antenna Profiling Radar experienced several hardware and software upgrades that were put to a test during the first FY 2001 project, VTMX. The year ended with the C-130 leaving JeffCo airport for a major corrosion inspection, after ATD spent a fair amount of time, money and effort in FY 2000 to improve the C-130 aircraft infrastructure and to upgrade its airborne standard chemistry sensors in conjunction with the Atmospheric Chemistry Division.
On the soundings side, development continued on several new instruments and systems. The Tethered Atmospheric Observing System (TAOS) successfully finished its maiden flight three days into the new fiscal year. ATD started several new sonde developments including the Inter-Continental Radiosonde Sounding System (ICARUSS), the smart sonde and the reference sonde, pushing GPS technology and promising high quality, reliable and cost efficient data from all over the world.
In summary, FY 2000 was once again a busy and very successful year, thanks to the effort, dedication and perseverance of the entire ATD staff.
Dr. David Carlson
Atmospheric Technology Division