EPICFC

EPIC Field Campaign (Test and Calibration/Validation)

28 October 2016 - 31 October 2016

Lead Scientist: Phillip Chilson

Observatory: SGP (Southern Great Plains)

The field campaign conducted at the DOE ARM SGP Site is part of a larger National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) unmanned aerial system (UAS) Program Office program awarded to the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL). The program is named Environmental Profiling and Initiation of Convection (EPIC). The EPIC Field Campaign (Test and Cal/Val) conducted in October was a test or “dry-run” as a precursor to a follow up campaign to be requested for Spring/Summer 2017. The EPIC project addresses the objective to “evaluate options for UAS profiling of the lower atmosphere with applications for severe weather.” The project goal is to demonstrate that fixed-wing and rotary small UAS have the combined potential to provide a unique observing system capable of providing detailed profiles of temperature, moisture, and winds within the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) to help determine the potential for severe weather development. Specific project objectives are 1) to develop small UAS capable of acquiring needed wind and thermodynamic profiles and transects of the ABL using one fixed-wing UAS operating in tandem with two different fixed rotary UAS pairs; 2) adapt and test miniaturized, high-precision, and fast-response atmospheric sensors with high accuracy in strong winds characteristic of the pre-convective ABL in Oklahoma; 3) conduct targeted short-duration experiments at the DOE Southern Great Plains site in northern Oklahoma concurrently with a second site to be chosen in “real-time” from the Oklahoma Mesonet in coordination with the NWS-Norman Forecast Office; and 4) gain valuable experience in pursuit of NOAA’s goals for determining the value of airborne, mobile observing systems for monitoring rapidly evolving high-impact severe weather conditions not observed with current operational systems.