NY-ECLIPSE-2024

Why It Matters - This campaign allowed direct observation of how the atmosphere responds in real time to a sudden, large-scale reduction in solar radiation, providing rare insights into boundary-layer dynamics, radiative forcing, and vertical atmospheric coupling that cannot be captured in normal conditions.

Three NCAR MicroPulse DIALs (MPDs) were deployed during the 2024 North American total solar eclipse (TSE) in New York State (NYS), collocated with three NYS Mesonet (NYSM) super-sites. Coincident surface, profiling, and flux measurements were collected. The primary scientific objective was to obtain continuous, high-resolution upper-air data from the MPDs and NYSM profilers, supplemented by radiosondes, to investigate atmospheric responses to the TSE. MPD profiles of calibrated backscatter, temperature, and water vapor were available in real time for comparison with radiosonde data, NYSM microwave radiometer (MWR) temperature and water vapor profiles, and Doppler wind lidar measurements. The education and outreach objective leveraged the TSE—a rare and transformative event—as an “ideal” laboratory to train undergraduate and graduate students in field campaign operations, state-of-the-art profiling instruments, and subsequent scientific data analysis.