High-Definition Sounding System (HDSS) for Atmospheric Profiling

Black, Peter G.; Harrison, Lee H.; Beaubien, Mark; Bluth, Robert; Woods, Roy K.; Penny, Andrew B.; Smith, Robert W.; Doyle, James D.

doi:10.1175/jtech-d-14-00210.1

Cited by 36 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…This capability permits the rapid deployment of many dropsondes, providing cross sections of pressure, temperature, humidity, and wind velocity with unprecedented horizontal resolution. Black et al (2017) report that XDDs are able to resolve atmospheric features in a manner comparable to RD-94 dropsondes (Hock and Franklin 1999), operational rawinsondes, and aircraft spiral profiles. The XDDs exhibited a warm bias of 18C and a dry bias of 5% relative to RD-94 dropsondes.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Dramatic Inner-Core Tropopause Variability during the Rapid Intensification of Hurricane Patricia (2015)

Duran

Molinari

2018

Monthly Weather Review

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Dropsondes with horizontal spacing as small as 4 km were released from the stratosphere in rapidly intensifying Hurricane Patricia (2015) during the Office of Naval Research Tropical Cyclone Intensity experiment. These observations provide cross sections of unprecedented resolution through the inner core of a hurricane. On 21 October, Patricia exhibited a strong tropopause inversion layer (TIL) across its entire circulation, with a maximum magnitude of 5.1 K (100 m)−1. This inversion weakened between 21 and 22 October as potential temperature θ increased by up to 16 K just below the tropopause and decreased by up to 14 K in the lower stratosphere. Between 22 and 23 October, the TIL over the eye weakened further, allowing the tropopause to rise by 1 km. Meanwhile over Patricia’s secondary eyewall, the TIL restrengthened and bulged upward by about 700 m into what was previously the lower stratosphere. These observations support many aspects of recent modeling studies, including eyewall penetration into the stratosphere during rapid intensification (RI), the existence of a narrow inflow layer near the tropopause, and the role of subsidence from the stratosphere in developing an upper-level warm core. Three mechanisms of inner-core tropopause variability are hypothesized: destabilization of the TIL through turbulent mixing, weakening of the TIL over the eye through upper-tropospheric subsidence warming, and increasing tropopause height forced by overshooting updrafts in the eyewall. None of these processes are seen as the direct cause of RI, but rather part of the RI process that includes strong increases in boundary layer moist entropy.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Dramatic Inner-Core Tropopause Variability during the Rapid Intensification of Hurricane Patricia (2015)

Duran

Molinari

2018

Monthly Weather Review

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“…As mentioned in Section 2, the YES HDSS/XDD dropsondes were launched from the DC-8 during all PW2 missions. Prior to Polar Winds, this system was used on the Navy's Twin Otter, the NASA Wallops Flight Facility P-3, and NASA's DC-8 and WB-57 aircraft [15]. Since the field campaigns, they have also been used during the 2015 Tropical Cyclone Intensity (TCI) experiment [31,32], and the 2017 CPEX [29,33].…”

Section: Dawn-dropsonde Comparisonsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Polar Winds: Airborne Doppler Wind Lidar Missions in the Arctic for Atmospheric Observations and Numerical Model Comparisons

et al. 2020

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During October–November 2014 and May 2015, NASA sponsored and conducted a pair of airborne campaigns called Polar Winds to investigate atmospheric circulations, particularly in the boundary layer, over the Arctic using NASA’s Doppler Aerosol WiNd (DAWN) lidar. A description of the campaigns, the DAWN instrument, wind retrieval methods and data processing is provided. During the campaigns, the DAWN instrument faced backscatter sensitivity issues in the low aerosol conditions that were fairly frequent in the 2–6 km altitude range. However, when DAWN was able to make measurements, comparisons with dropsondes show good agreement and very low bias and supports the use of an airborne Doppler wind lidar such as DAWN that can provide profiles with high velocity precision, ~65 m vertical resolution and horizontal spacing as fine as 3–7 km. Case study analyses of a Greenland tip jet, barrier winds and an upper level jet are presented and show how, despite sensitivity issues, DAWN data can be confidently used in diagnostic studies of dynamic features in the Arctic. Comparisons with both an operational and research Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model for these events also show the potential for utilization in model validation. The sensitivity issues of the DAWN laser have since been corrected.

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“…Frequent dropsonde data accompanied the DAWN observations for validation purposes, and to provide complementary wind profiles near convection. The dropsondes system used during CPEX was the High Definition Sounding System (HDSS) dropsonde delivery system developed by Yankee Environmental Services (Black et. al., 2017).…”

Section: Cpex Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Joint Analysis of Convective Structure from the APR-2 Precipitation Radar and the DAWN Doppler Wind Lidar During the 2017 Convective Processes Experiment (CPEX)

Turk¹,

Hristova-Veleva²,

Durden³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Abstract. The mechanisms linking convection and cloud dynamical processes is a major factor in much of the uncertainty in both weather and climate prediction. Further constraining the uncertainty in convective cloud processes linking 3-D air motion and cloud structure through models and observations is vital for improvements in weather forecasting, and understanding limits on atmospheric predictability. To date, there have been relatively few airborne observations specifically targeted for sampling convective cloud processes linking 3-D air motion and transport of water vapor near clouds, and the subsequent development (or non-development) of convective precipitation. During the May–June 2017 Convective Processes Experiment (CPEX), NASA DC-8-based airborne observations were collected from the JPL Ku/Ka-band Airborne Precipitation Radar (APR-2) and the 2-um Doppler Aerosol Wind (DAWN) lidar during approximately 100 flight hours. Frequent dropsonde data accompanied the DAWN observations for validation purposes, and to provide complement wind profiles in and near convection. For CPEX, the APR-2 provided vertical air motion and structure of the cloud systems in nearby precipitating regions where DAWN is unable to sense. Conversely, DAWN sampled vertical wind profiles in aerosol-rich regions surrounding the convection, but is unable to sense the wind field structure within cloud. In this manuscript, the complementary nature of these data are presented from the June 10–11 flight dates, including the APR-2 precipitation structure and Doppler wind fields, and adjacent wind profiles from the DAWN and dropsonde data.

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High-Definition Sounding System (HDSS) for Atmospheric Profiling

Cited by 36 publications

References 39 publications

Dramatic Inner-Core Tropopause Variability during the Rapid Intensification of Hurricane Patricia (2015)

Dramatic Inner-Core Tropopause Variability during the Rapid Intensification of Hurricane Patricia (2015)

Polar Winds: Airborne Doppler Wind Lidar Missions in the Arctic for Atmospheric Observations and Numerical Model Comparisons

Joint Analysis of Convective Structure from the APR-2 Precipitation Radar and the DAWN Doppler Wind Lidar During the 2017 Convective Processes Experiment (CPEX)

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