Enhancement of Capabilities in Education and Research Using Lidar and Other Techniques for Environmental Measurements
Abstract
This proposal is for the acquisition by Hampton University (HU) of the necessary subcomponents to develop a Mie-Raman-Differential Absorption tunable Lidar (MRDIAL) system based on our existing 48-inch lidar that has been partially developed under an Army Partnership in Research Transition (PIRT) project monitored by the Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi, MD. As supporting instrumentation we are proposing the acquisition of a sun photometer system, and a rawindsonde system. The lidar system consists of two tunable Continuum Powerlite Optical Parametric Oscillator (OPO) laser transmitters, a diffraction grating beam separation receiver unit, and a Licel 8-channel photomultiplier/APD detector/transient recorder data acquisition system. The sun photometer system is a Cimel automatic sun-tracking spectral radiometer with filters for nine wavelengths and is the AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) standard instrument for measuring aerosol optical and physical parameters. The radiosonde system consists of an InterMet atmospheric sounding unit with antenna/receiver assembly and a laptop computer with custom software for data reception and tracking of a balloon-lifted standard National Weather Service (NWS) payload. This equipment will support the research of HUÕs Department of Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences in characterizing aerosols, clouds, gases, temperature, winds, transport and humidity in the planetary boundary layer and free troposphere over Hampton, VA. It will also enhance HUÕs current MasterÕs and Doctoral programs to train graduate students in both active and passive atmospheric remote sensing and in fundamental in-situ meteorological research. Under the guidance of the principal investigator (PI), M. Patrick McCormick, students will learn to exploit the synergy of simultaneous multi-wavelength measurements from various remote-sensing instruments to retrieve aerosol properties and molecular gas concentrations that are not possible to observe with individual monochromatic systems. Students will also gain experience in making in-situ atmospheric measurements and using auxiliary meteorological data derived from those measurements calibrate and validate the remote-sensing observations. The derivative research made possible by the acquisition of these systems directly addresses the Environmental Science interests of the Department of Defense (DoD) in obtaining fundamental knowledge of the atmospheric boundary layer, including detailed, high-resolution information in time and space at specific locations of aerosol characteristics, gaseous chemical concentrations, temperature, moisture and winds. It is recommended that this application is evaluated by the Army Research Office (ARO) Environmental Chemistry program of the DoD. The directly interested research organization resides within the Battlefield Environment Division of the ARL Computational and Information Sciences Directorate.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Sep 20, 2018
- Source ID
- W911NF1610497
Entities
People
- Michael Mccormick
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- Hampton University
- Office of the Secretary of Defense