Instruments Available on NCAR-Operated Research Aircraft

  1. State Parameters Including Wind and Position

    1. Temperature, ambient air

      1. standard anti-iced sensor

      2. unheated fast-response sensor

      3. radiometric sensors

      1. remote sensors

    1. Humidity, ambient air

      1. standard dew-point sensors

      2. cryogenically cooled dew-point sensor (CR2)

      3. UV hygrometer

      4. vertical cavity surface emitting laser hygrometer (VCSEL)

      5. open path laser hygrometer (OPLH)

    2. Pressure, ambient air: ambient-pressure sensors

    3. Wind (obtained from the addition of the relative-wind vector and the aircraft-velocity vector), obtained using the following sensors

      1. gust measurements (wind relative to the aircraft)

      2. aircraft motion relative to the Earth

    4. Position of the aircraft

      1. inertial reference units

      2. global positioning systems

      3. radar altimeter (height above the surface underlying the aircraft)

    5. Time: time servers

    6. Other related measurements:

      1. cabin pressure

      2. cabin temperature

      3. pressure in the gas-dump manifold (this outlet is used as a common outlet for sampling lines)

    7. Properties of clouds and hydrometeors

      1. Liquid water content

      2. Cloud droplet spectrometers

      3. Ice, drizzle, and precipitation probes

      4. Remote sensors:

    8. Trace-gas concentrations

      1. Ozone

      2. Carbon dioxide

      3. Flask sampling systems

      4. Other trace gases

    9. Aerosol particles

      1. Condensation nuclei (two methods, using butanol or water)

      2. Aerosol-particle spectrometers

      3. Chemical, optical, or other properties of aerosols

      4. Remote sensor:: high spectral resolution lidar (HSRL)

      5. Special inlet: SDI aerosol inlet

    10. Radiation

      1. up- and down-welling irradiance

      2. actinic flux: HIAPER Airborne Radiation Package (HARP)

      3. Remotely sensed surface temperature: Heinman remote surface thermometer

    11. Other

      1. standard inlets - “HIMIL” inlets

      2. video recording

      3. satellite communications

      4. mission coordinator station