Abstract. Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs) are increasingly being used as observation platforms for atmospheric applications. The Lower Atmospheric Process Studies at Elevation – a Remotely-piloted Aircraft Team Experiment (LAPSE-RATE) in Alamosa, CO, USA during July 14th–20th, 2018 investigated and validated different UASs, measurement sensors and setup configurations. Flight teams from the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) and the Kansas State University (KSU) participated in LAPSE-RATE to measure and investigate properties of aerosol particles and gases in the lower atmosphere. During the experiment, the performance of different UAS configurations were investigated and confirmed to operate reliably resulting in a scientifically sound observational dataset. As an example, concentration of aerosols – including two new particle formation events, CO2 and water vapor, and meteorological parameters in the atmospheric vertical profile were measured during the short experiment. Such observations characterizing atmospheric phenomena of this specific environment would have not been possible in any other way, and thus, demonstrate power of UASs as new, promising tools in atmospheric and environmental research.

Abstract. Unmanned aerial systems (UASs) are increasingly being used as observation platforms for atmospheric applications. The Lower Atmospheric Process Studies at Elevation – a Remotely-piloted Aircraft Team Experiment (LAPSE-RATE) in Alamosa, Colorado, USA, on 14–20 July 2018 investigated and validated different UASs, measurement sensors and setup configurations. Flight teams from the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) and Kansas State University (KSU) participated in LAPSE-RATE to measure and investigate properties of aerosol particles and gases in the lower atmosphere. During the experiment, the performance of different UAS configurations were investigated and confirmed to operate reliably, resulting in a scientifically sound observational dataset. As an example, concentration of aerosols – including two new particle formation events, CO2 and water vapor, and meteorological parameters in the atmospheric vertical profile were measured during the short experiment. Such observations characterizing atmospheric phenomena of this specific environment would have not been possible in any other way and, thus, demonstrate the power of UASs as new, promising tools in atmospheric and environmental research.

Abstract. Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) are becoming very popular as affordable and reliable observation platforms. The Lower Atmospheric Process Studies at Elevation - a Remotely-piloted Aircraft Team Experiment (LAPSE-RATE), conducted in the San Luis Valley of Colorado (USA) between July 14th – 20th, 2018, gathered together numerous sUAS, remote sensing equipment and ground based instrumentation. Flight teams from the Finnish Meteorological Institute and the Kansas State University co-operated during LAPSE-RATE to measure and investigate the properties of aerosol particles and gases at the surface and in the lower atmosphere. During LAPSE-RATE the deployed instrumentation operated reliably, resulting in a scientifically sound observational dataset. Our observations included aerosol particle number concentrations and size distributions, concentrations of CO2 and water vapor, and meteorological parameters. All data sets have been uploaded to the Zenodo LAPSE-RATE community archive (https://zenodo.org/communities/lapse-rate/). The dataset DOIs for FMI airborne measurements and surface measurements are available here: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3993996, Brus et al. (2020a), and for KSU airborne measurements and surface measurements are available here: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3736772, Brus et al. (2020b).

Abstract. Small unmanned aerial systems (sUASs) are becoming very popular as affordable and reliable observation platforms. The Lower Atmospheric Process Studies at Elevation – a Remotely-piloted Aircraft Team Experiment (LAPSE-RATE), conducted in the San Luis Valley (SLV) of Colorado (USA) between 14 and 20 July 2018, gathered together numerous sUASs, remote-sensing equipment, and ground-based instrumentation. Flight teams from the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) and the Kansas State University (KSU) co-operated during LAPSE-RATE to measure and investigate the properties of aerosol particles and gases at the surface and in the lower atmosphere. During LAPSE-RATE the deployed instrumentation operated reliably, resulting in an observational dataset described below in detail. Our observations included aerosol particle number concentrations and size distributions, concentrations of CO2 and water vapor, and meteorological parameters. All datasets have been uploaded to the Zenodo LAPSE-RATE community archive (https://zenodo.org/communities/lapse-rate/, last access: 21 August 2020). The dataset DOIs for FMI airborne measurements and surface measurements are available here: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3993996, Brus et al. (2020a), and those for KSU airborne measurements and surface measurements are available here: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3736772, Brus et al. (2020b).

No abstract